WORKIN' ON THE RAILROAD. Train service from Umm Qasr to Basra resumes (via Command Post.) Here is a capsule description of Iraq's railroad network (large map here, and the person who maintains the site has also done some work on Afghanistan's railroads.) My 1990-1991 Jane's All the World Railways indicates that the Ministry of Transport and Communications had a number of plans, including a planned direct line across the Turkish border, bypassing Syria. That plan was overtaken by the Kuwait crisis.

At one time, the Iraq railroad hosted the Taurus Express from Istanbul with service to Cairo or Basra provided by Wagons-Lits, beloved of Agatha Christie for real, and Bond, James Bond, on screen.