Atbara – Port Sudan railway line

Atbara – Port Sudan
Route length:	476.5 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Legend from Khartoum 0 Atbara Siding to Wadi Halfa 16.8 Salata 31.9 Hudi 56.4 Dugwaja 78.8 Hadida 101.6 Ogrein 105.4 Km 417 120.9 Sijatab 134.0 Km 447 142.1 Togni 164.9 Ar Rawdschal 189.8 Mismar 204.7 Mias 219.1 Talguharui 235.3 Schedijeb 260.9 Unity from Sannar 272.5 Haija Junction 288.1 Tohamijam 306.8 Ask 315.9 Km 629 327.4 Barameiju 346.7 Summit 355.8 Sinkat 356.0 Kilometer 669 370.1 Area 379.6 Gamateb 387.0 Erba 399.5 Assot 409.7 Kamob Sanha 418.1 Okwat 428.6 Obo 436.2 Adaraweb after Suakin 446.5 Sallom 453.8 Tisiamti 465.8 Asoteriba Connection to the south port 476.5 Bur Sudan (Port Sudan) Port north connection

The Atbara – Port Sudan railway was created from 1904 as a branch line to the Khartoum – Wadi Halfa railway between the Atbara station on this line and the Port of Sudan (today: Bur Sudan ) on the Red Sea .

The construction and operation of the line with steam locomotives faced the problem of water supply, as the line runs through the desert for almost its entire length . The line is 523 km long, was built in Kapspur and opened on January 26, 1906. On the one hand, it served to supply Khartoum better and more cheaply: it avoided reloading the goods between railways and river boats on the Nile in Aswan and Wadi Halfa , a significant cost factor. Mass consumer goods, such as coal, were up to half the price in Khartoum after the railway opened. The route was also of military importance, as it created an alternative to the Suez Canal by river and land , thereby strengthening the connection between Great Britain and British India . At the east end of the railway line, Suakin , another port on the Red Sea, was also connected with a branch line. From 1924 to 1926 the line was supplemented by the Haija Junction – Sannar line .

In freight transport, the route is still of considerable importance for rail transport in Sudan , even if this has decreased drastically in the last three decades. But rail transport is still important today, especially for petroleum products from inland.

literature

• Franz Baltzer : The colonial railways with a special focus on Africa . 1916. ND Holzminden o. J. ISBN 978-3-8262-0233-9
• Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas and Historical Summary 7 = North, East and Central Africa. 2009. ISBN 978-954-92184-3-5