The night train from Baghdad to Basra is all that remains of a one-time rich heritage of passenger rail travel in Iraq. An early tram system was replaced in 1914 by an Ottoman track running north from Baghdad, and eight years later the invading British constructed a narrow-gauge line to connect the southern port city of Basra.

Basra train station
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Hashim Hussaini, a writer and historian inside Al-Shabandar cafe in Baghdad, Iraq. Since the cafe opened over a century ago, the establishment has become a home for Baghdad’s intellectual life, drawing poets, artists and politicians to its wooden benches and photo-lined walls.
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Baghdad ticket station
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Dried fish market at dawn, Basra
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Baghdad train station
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Passenger at Baghdad train station
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Al-Shabandar cafe in Baghdad
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Baghdad
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Baghdad train station
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Disused train in Baghdad
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The banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in Basra
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Baghdad train station
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Train inspector aboard the Baghdad to Basra train.
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Chaikhana in Baghdad
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Disused train in Baghdad
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The train caption aboard the Baghdad to Basra train.
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The train caption aboard the Baghdad to Basra train.
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Traveling to Basra train station
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Disused train in Baghdad
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Replica train in Baghdad train station
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The entrance to Baghdad train station
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