Homemade train helps puts Syrian city of Kobani back on track (PHOTOS)
A homemade train fashioned from old car parts and scrap machinery is filling the public transport void in a Syrian city destroyed by running gun battles, airstrikes, and Islamic State attacks.
Since 2014, the lives of Kobani residents have been shattered by the Syrian civil war and sieges by Islamic State (IS, formerly ISIS/ISIL) jihadists seeking to capture strategic villages along the Syria-Turkey border.
In January last year the city was liberated from IS control by Kurdish militia, but has since been the scene of an IS massacre, which claimed more than 200 lives.
The Kurdish-controlled region in which Kobani is located was reportedly declared a federal region in recent weeks. The city is currently undergoing a rebuilding project led by a Reconstruction Committee.
A homemade train resembling the quaint vehicles seen in tourist towns around the world has become a vital part of the city’s internal transportation, ferrying locals in between the war torn streets of the city.
Internal transportation home made train in #Kobane#Rojava#Syriapic.twitter.com/fUvWjhyj63
— Aras Xani (@Xaniaras) March 28, 2016
Aras Xani, a member of the resistance group People’s Protection Units (YPG), told RT.com that the train was built by a local Kurdish man over the course of two months.
He said the train is for “civilians and visitors of the city” and was built from parts of “broken cars”.
READ MORE: What RT found in Syrian town liberated from jihadists by Kurds [EXCLUSIVE]
Pictures of the unusual vehicle - nicknamed “The Castle of Resistance Train” - show children traveling with their parents in the bright red carts along dirt roads. One young boy even flashes a peace sign, in front of newly constructed buildings.
