Syrian train station, once pride of Damascus, now symbol of revival after war

(18 Jan 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Damascus, Syria – 11 January 2025
1. Aerial of Qadam train station ++MUTE++
2. Various of abandoned trains
3. Various of train driver and railway worker Mazen Malla walking around abandoned trains
4. Various of abandoned station
5. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mazen Malla, railway worker:
“It was daily, daily, daily trips for us. I mean, we see the train and the motorcar as part of us. Daily we would be in it for 12 or 13 hours every day. When I got back home, I was so tired that I wouldn’t see my kids as much as I would see the motorcar.”
6. Various of abandoned trains
7. Wide of Malla walking up stairs of station
8. Malla walking through room and speaking; UPSOUND (Arabic): “It was an administrative branch for the employees, the administration of the institution. When we left, the army came and sat in its heart and made a headquarters out of it. They stayed here and from there they made were sniper positions, and the sniper positions are still there until now. This is what they used to do this building. These are the sniper positions there, the sniper used to sit here, and the army used to put all the windows snipers over 30th Street. From here they used to target 30th Street. This is the sniper position they created, they broke the cement, and they opened a position from there.”
9. Various of trains
10. Wide of exterior of train station
11. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mazen Malla, railway worker:
“The army stayed here at that time, the army took us out and stayed there. When we returned here after the army had left, we found the house destroyed and completely burned. We went to the station and what we saw was tragic. It was unbelievable. It was heart-breaking. We went inside into the departments and everything was stolen. Copper, electric cables and tools — they were all gone.”
12. Wide of window
13. Wide of graffiti reading (Arabic): "Hezbollah’s men. I am at your service, Hussein"
14. Close of graffiti reading (Arabic): "Hezbollah’s men. I am at your service, Hussein"
15. Close of graffiti reading (Arabic): "Where Assad steps, we will kneel and kiss wherever Assad walks"
16. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mazen Malla, railway worker:
“This is a shelter built by the Ottomans. They built it in case there is a war here then the workers can hide in it. When the revolution happened and the army came here, they turned it into a jail. They put the people there and they took them somewhere unknown after.”
17. Mid of shelter
18. Various of shelter turned into jail
19. Wide of abandoned train
20. Various of deserted train yard
21. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Mazen Malla, railway worker:
"I hope there will soon be job opportunities, so my son can be employed here. That way he can revive the heritage of his father, his uncle, his grandfather, and his great grandfather. We have worked at the railway insinuation for decades. I hope there will be new jobs so we can carry on the legacy."
22. Mid of railway tracks
23. Various of station board
24. Various aerials of train station ++MUTE++
STORYLINE:
A train station in Damascus was once the pride of the Syrian capital, an essential link between Europe and the Arabian Peninsula during the Ottoman Empire and then a national transit hub.

But more than a decade of war left it a wasteland of bullet-scarred walls and twisted steel.

The Qadam station’s remaining staff say they still have an attachment to the railway and hope that it, like the country, can be revived after the swift and stunning downfall of leader Bashar Assad last month.

AP Video by Ghaith Alsayed

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