Lebanese people enjoyed a better public transport before. They could use buses, trains, and the tramway. The current public transport, which is unorganized and unreliable, only consists of buses. People are calling for reviving the railway back to decrease the traffic and to make people less dependent on cars. The Lebanese NGO
Train/Train Lebanon
is advocating for the rehabilitation and the preservation of the railway. On December 20, 1942, General Harold Alexander, who was the Commander in Chief of the Middle East, opened the railway between Beirut and Tripoli at Nahr El Kalb.
