تاريخ السكك الحديد في كركوك واثره الاقتصادي والاجتماعي 1925-1985

Railways represent the backbone of the transport sector as a cheap and fast mean of transportation and the availability for large capacity for transport. Being the most important pillar of the strategic transport, railways is one of the elements of the rapid development of the sectors of the economy of basic trade, industry, agriculture and service. The study aims to highlight the economic activity in Kirkuk during the 20th century. Although the idea of establishing the railway in Iraq and Kirkuk dates back to the late 19th century but it was not completed at that time due to the conflict of the super powers to exploit its oil resources. The project was launched in the second decade of the twentieth century, which resulted in economic and social influences in the city and its areas, which is the main subject of our study. The scarcity of sources and archives in all government departments in the city due to the political issues from the second half of the 20th century until 2003. It led to the use of some sources and references directly and indirectly related to the subject and based on personal interviews with users of the railway instead of documents and railway archives in Kirkuk, which was lost as a result of political events. The study includes a brief overview of railway projects in Iraq and two main parts. The first part deals with the completion of the project of Baghdad-Kirkuk-Erbil line, the most important stations on the line, in addition to social and passengers services for train users in Kirkuk. The second part deals with the economic and social impact of the project resulted from the project in Kirkuk during the period of study, in addition to the conclusion of the research.