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.

info

Basra train station

×

Basra train station

×
info

Al-Shabandar cafe in Baghdad

×

Al-Shabandar cafe in Baghdad

×
info

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.

×

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.

×
info

Baghdad ticket station

×

Baghdad ticket station

×
info

Baghdad train station

×

Baghdad train station

×
info

Baghdad

×

Baghdad

×
info

Baghdad train station

×

Baghdad train station

×
info

Baghdad train station

×

Baghdad train station

×
info

Disused train in Baghdad

×

Disused train in Baghdad

×
info

Dried fish market at dawn, Basra

×

Dried fish market at dawn, Basra

×
info

The banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in Basra 

×

The banks of the Shatt al-Arab river in Basra 

×
info

Chaikhana in Baghdad

×

Chaikhana in Baghdad

×
Using Format