The magazine says head of the Bahn, Rüdiger Grube, is ready to agree the basics of a cooperation to do so with Amir Abd al-Dscabir Ismail, Iraq’s transport minister, next week.

The freight train network will take priority and, according to the report, once it is up and running, the Bahn plans to be a partner in operating it.

The parties have not released any information on the scale of the project, or how much money will be involved, but the concept has at least now been revealed – after nearly a year of talks which have been taking place in secret.

Germans have been building railways in the region for more than a century, with Kaiser Wilhelm II agreeing to a deal with the Ottoman Empire to build the Baghdad railway with finance from the Deutsche Bank.