SAMARRA, Iraq- The train's clickety-clack reflected the relaxed mood of its passengers as Shiite pilgrims made the most of a newly-revived service to Samarra.
Their cheerfulness stemmed not just from the spring sunshine beaming over surrounding farmland but also from the sharp drop in violence, for the time being at least.
"We are all equals now: Sunnis, Shiites ... and even Christians," said Abbas Ahmad Taleb, 63, a seyyed, or descendant of Prophet Mohammed, wearing a black-and-white keffiyeh headdress.
The train leaves from Baghdad central station and chugs along a 125-kilometre (80-mile) stretch through a district north of the capital.
Abdel Amir Hammoud, Baghdad's public transport director, said the train has been making the two-and-a-half-hour journey every Friday since early December with an average of 80 to 100 passengers in the cautious first weeks.
But last week he had to add an extra carriage to carry the 220 passengers headed for Samarra, with the numbers going up every Friday for the Muslim day of prayers.
There have been no incidents involving the new passenger services, despite the burnt-out carriages abandoned on the side of the tracks.
"The years 2003-2006 weren't good. At first we had no communications with the drivers. At one time, trains were only being used to ferry supplies," Hammoud said.
Since last year, Iraq's fledgling army has been guarding railway lines, having seized control of the area.
Religious authorities have called for a massive prayer gathering this Friday at Samarra's Al-Askari shrine, which was built in 944 and had its golden dome added in 1905.
'We need to get out of Baghdad, to get some air'
"We want to show our love for the imams (historic leaders of Shiite Islam), to show our faith," said Umm Mina, a steely blue-eyed mother travelling with a group of 15 family members and neighbours.
"And we need to get out of Baghdad, to get some air," she said.
Zina, a young woman chewing gum, raised all-round laughter in one of the ageing French-built compartments. "If this train goes all the way to France, we'll stay on board," she joked.
As the day-trippers photographed each other with mobile phones, Taleb's 24 year-old nephew Hussam tried to keep the focus on the religious significance of the ride to what was also the home of messiah-figure 12th and last imam.
"I am sure the imam will come soon and reform the world," he said of Imam Mahdi, who vanished and Shiites believe will one day return to restore justice.
In mid-February, millions of Iraq's majority and now dominant Shiite community converged on Karbala for a solemn ceremony.
Among the many who made the more than 100-kilometre (60-mile) trek on foot from Baghdad last month was a tubby 14-year-old boy called Mustapha who was larking around in a corridor.
"I walked all that way to Karbala, and I didn't lose a single kilo!" Mustapha complained, with a broad smile.
Once in Samarra, on a wind-swept and dusty day, the pilgrims were shepherded onto buses by red-bereted police, in charge of their security from start to finish in the town.
As boys sold fluorescent green scarves symbolising devotion, the women, mostly in the conservative head-to-toe black abayas, were searched separately by women.
After kissing the gate and entering the mosque compound, many women wept at the sorry sight of the dome, left with a gaping hole and stripped by the 2006 blast of its multitude of gold pieces and light blue tiles.
Hussein Ali, chief engineer of restoration work launched two years ago, gave an early April target date just to complete the structure of the dome and of two minarets destroyed in a later attack.
About 150 men, including 35 Sunnis from Samarra, are working in two shifts.
Zuhair al-Ansari, head of a government-formed reconstruction panel, said the large numbers of pilgrims -- an estimated 14,000 that day -- converging on the partially reopened mosque is slowing down work.
"The pilgrims get in the way sometimes," he said.
After a soft rain, which filled the air with a sweet fragrance from the earth, and as swallows darted overhead, the pilgrims headed back to their train to feast in their carriages.
Homemade spicy rice and chicken was on the menu, accompanied by Iraqi flat bread and followed by strong tea, amid loud chatter, laughter and the sounds of children at play.
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