'Handbook of Mesopotamia. Vol. I. 1918' [‎265] (274/568)

COMMUNICATIONS AND TRANSPORT 265
It was part of the German scheme that the railway should be
eventually prolonged from Basra to the Persian Gulf The historical term used to describe the body of water between the Arabian Peninsula and Iran. at Koweit,
a distance of about 100 miles across desert.
(c) Projected branches of the Baghdad Railway within this area :
(i) To Urfeh (from Tel Abiyadh station to Urfeh via Harran is
about 37 miles).
This branch would serve the agricultural district of the Harran—
Urfeh plain.
(ii) Tel Helif—Mardln—Diarbekr—Arghana Ma'den (about 125
miles).
At Arghana Ma'den the Mesopotamian railway system was to
connect with the system of eastern Anatolia South-east Turkey today. and Armenia. 1
(iii) Mosul—Erbil (about 37 miles).
This branch would serve the agricultural districts in the Mosul—
Erbil plain, which have possibilities of considerable development.
(iv) Sumeikeh—Sa'diyeh—Delli 'Abbas—Khanikin (about 75
miles), and Delli 'Abbas—Tuz Khurmatli.
The line to Khanikin would serve the very fertile Khalis region,
and also, together with its branch to Tuz Khurmatli, the oil-fields on
the Persian frontier.
Moreover Khanikin lies at the natural gate from Mesopotamia
into Persia, and through it runs the great Baghdad—Kirmanshah
trade-route. The branch line from the Baghdad Railway to Khanikin
was meant eventually to connect with a line to Tehran Kirman
shah and Hamadan.
(v) El-Baj (on the right bank of the Euphrates opposite Museyib)—
Hit (about 110 miles).
the desert south of the Euphrates to Basra. The distance from Baghdad to Nasi-
riyeh, where this route meets that of the Baghdad Railway, is about 240 miles.
The line would need protection from floods ; and the idea was entertained of
carrying it along the protective banks which Sir William Willcocks proposed to
construct, as a part of his irrigation scheme, on the right bank of the Tigris
between Baghdad and Kut el-Amara, and on the right bank of the Hai.
The possibility of constructing aline along the Hilla branch of the Euphrates
has also been taken into consideration.
1 Projected lines of this latter system were :
Samsun—Amasia—Tokat—Sivas—Kharput—Arghana Ma'den (French con
cession).
Kharput—Mush—-Bitlis—Van (French concession).
Angora—Yozgad—Sivas (French concession).
Angora—Kaisarieh—Sivas (German concession ; an extension of the Anato
lian Railway Haidar Pasha—Eski Shehr-—Angora).
Sivas—Erzingan—Pekerij—Erzerum (with branch Pekerij—Trebizond).