Rail transport in Lebanon began in the 1890s as French projects under the Ottoman Empire but largely ceased in the 1970s owing to the country's civil war. The last remaining routes ended for economic reasons in the 1990s. At its peak Lebanon had about 408 kilometers (254 mi) of railway.

In August 1895, the first steam train departed from Beirut and traveled through the Bekaa Valley towards Rayak Station, near the border with today's Syria. It was the golden age of rail transport in Lebanon.

Lebanon’s 408km of railway once connected Beirut to Damascus, Syria, and Haifa, but has ceased operation after Lebanon's civil war (1975-1990)

Nowadays, the Lebanese suffer of many problems whose solution simply is a sustainable public transport system featuring a national railway supporting the country's demographic and economic growth.

The NGO Train Train made it its mission to put Lebanon back on rails.

In this session we will discussion

1- Lebanese railway history & importance

2- Current situation of trains and railways

3- New opportunities & potential for trains

4- Financial resources

Speaker's Bio

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Carlos Naffah is the president of Train/Train NGO.

As president of Train/Train Ngo,  Carlos Naffah focuses his advocacy efforts on the rehabilitation and revitalization of Lebanon's railway system in an effort to increase economic opportunities for citizens across the country. In addition to campaigning for increased accessibility to public transport, Carlos is crisis management consultant who has conducted extensive research into Syrian refugee crisis. Carlos is the Crisis Management consultant for DPNA. He is a member of the Lebanese Institute for Market studies LIMS a platform for research, collaboration, and innovation in public policy. He also worked as a senior consultant on behalf of the German International Cooperation GIZ for the vocational education policy reform & SME promotion program. He also worked as a higher education consultant for the German academic exchange services DAAD and established DAAD Beirut office in 2016. He has participated in many regional and international transport Policies seminars and conferences. Carlos is currently a doctoral candidate in refugee education policy at Lebanese University where he uses his political and educational background to help solve community problems. He holds an International education management Master from Ludwigsburg University Germany, a Political & administration sciences Master from Lebanese University and a Mechanical engineering BS.

Tickets are free, but booking is a must!

Places are limited, book here:

https://ihjoz.com/events/6030#checkout

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This session will be online from the comfort of your home.

This session is part of the Free Online Series Program done by I Have Learned Academy in collaboration with KAS: "Thoughts & Talks for a Better Lebanon"