Siege of Khartoum population of Khartoum was about 34,000. Gordon's plight excited great concern in the British press, and even Queen Victoria intervened on his behalf. The government ordered him to return, but Gordon refused, saying he was honour-bound to defend the city. By July 1884, Gladstone reluctantly agreed to send an expedition to Khartoum. The expedition, led by Sir Garnet Wolseley, took several months to organise and only entered Sudan in January 1885, but by then the situation of the Egyptian garrison and civilians had become desperate, with food supplies running low, many inhabitants dying of hunger and the defenders' morale at
Khartoum is currently located in the heart of the city. A new international airport is currently being built about south of the city center. There have been delays to start construction because lack of funding of the project but it is expected that the airport will be completed sometime in 2018. It will replace the current airport in Khartoum as Sudan's main airport. Bridges over the Blue Nile connecting Khartoum to Khartoum North: Khartoum has rail lines from Wadi Halfa, Port Sudan on the Red Sea, and El Obeid. All are operated by Sudan Railways. Some lines also extended to some