Babanusa – Wau railway line

Babanusa Junction – woof
Route length:	445.5 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Maximum slope :	25  ‰
Legend from Khartoum 0 Babanusa Junction to Nyala 18.5 Al-Bashma stop 34.6 Al-Muglad to Abu Jabra Oil Terminal 56.9 Al Wadi 63.2 Abu Agbar 79.1 Hidlim stop 97.4 Al-Fuda 116.2 Hereika 132.7 Al-Mairum 151.3 Attijat stop 170.9 Bahr al-Arab 185.3 Gok stop 195.5 Sudan / South Sudan state border 203.0 Paint whale 221.4 Makair stop 240.2 Mabjor 261.5 Aryat 273.1 Wed Well 293.6 Wudom stop 309.2 Awhile 328.7 Fangab 346.4 Fango stop 351.5 Malek 364.5 Moons 377.8 Gana stop 395.0 Kangi 412.1 Getti stop 425.6 Atiedo 434.8 Wat Riet 445.5 Woof

The Babanusa – Wau railway is a Cape-gauge railway connection between Sudan and South Sudan . The route branches off from the main Khartoum – Nyala route in Babanusa and leads to Wau . With the secession of South Sudan on July 9, 2011, the southern part of the route, 248 km, fell to the new state.

history

The 445 km long route was built by the Sudanese Railways between 1958 and 1962. It was built at a time when the railroad still had an almost monopoly on land-based long-distance traffic in Sudan . The first section to Al Muglad went into operation on April 30, 1959. In February 1962, the line was continuously passable for freight trains to Wau . Passenger traffic began on March 17, 1962. The travel time from Khartoum to Wau was about six days. Operations had to be stopped from time to time in the summer due to flooding.

Passenger traffic was stopped again in 1986 due to the war of civil secession in South Sudan. The remaining train traffic in the following years was used exclusively for the transport of armaments to the city ​​of Wau, which was held by the army of Sudan. In the further course of the war, the rail link was destroyed.

An investigation in 2004 showed that a total of 140 kilometers of rails and two bridges are missing. A recovery did not seem possible at first. With the help of UN funds, however, the line was rebuilt. Mine clearance organizations began clearing mines and duds after the end of the civil war . In doing so, they first created an 8 to 25 meter wide corridor with clearing vehicles. On the restored railway line in South Sudan , a train coming from Babanusa reached Aweil in September 2009. In March 2010, the entire route was open to traffic again. The first freight train to arrive in Wau was received by the Sudanese head of state Omar al-Bashir and the South Sudanese President Salva Kiir Mayardit .

It is not known whether the route has been used since July 9, 2011 and how its operation is organized.

literature

• Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas and Historical Summary 7 = North, East and Central Africa .oO 2009, p. 67ff u. Plate 38. ISBN 978-954-92184-3-5

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Sudan Railways Corporation ( Memento from November 1, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 933 kB), Facts and Figures 2007 ; Robinson, p. 67ff.
2. ↑ Robinson, pp. 68f.
3. ↑ Robinson, p. 69.
4. ↑ United Nations Mission in Sudan ( Memento of March 16, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) (PDF; 117 kB), January 27, 2008
5. ^ Monthly Activity Report. UNMAO / UNMAS ( Memento of December 21, 2010 in the Internet Archive ) Lists currently demined areas in the monthly report for February 2007
6. ^ Bashir promises more railway construction in South Sudan , in: Sudan Tribune, March 11, 2010.
7. ↑ Sudan. Terror train turns the corner. World News, March 22, 2010