Railway line Djibouti – Addis Ababa (meter gauge)

Djibouti – Addis Ababa
Meter-gauge route in black, standard-gauge route in red
Route length:	784 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	30.0  ‰
Minimum radius :	150 m
Legend Djibouti port 0 Djibouti 18.8 Chebele Chebele Viaduct 32.9 Goubetto 51.5 Holhol Holhol Viaduct 71.9 Dasabiou 89.5 Ali Sabieh Douane Djibouti / Ethiopia 107.1 Dewele Frontière 123.7 Guelile 131.3 Adele 144.6 Ayisha 160.7 Lasarat Harr tunnel 200.5 Adigale 234.3 Arido Beyid 246.8 Milo 264.1 Harrewa 284.6 El Bah 298.2 Shinile 309.5 Dire Dawa 336.3 Hurso 367.9 Erer 374.8 Gota 393.3 Bike 419.6 Afdam 447.5 Mulu 459.3 Lousy 472.8 Asabot 494.0 Kora 508.9 Dire Kalu 515.7 Laga Arba 524.9 Bordele 538.6 Awash East 545.1 Awash Awash 576.8 Metehara Connection to the sugar factory 615.9 Melka Jilo 633.1 Borchotto 639.1 Harbona 643.4 Feto 654.6 Welenchiti 660.4 Neve 669.6 Gede 681 Nazret Connection to the sugar factory 699.0 Gebeya 706.6 Mojo 722.2 Gich'i 730.6 Debre Zeyit 741.0 Dukem Gerado 760.2 Ak'aki Beseka 768.5 Kalitie Hana 782.2 Addis Ababa

The Djibouti – Addis Ababa railway was created when the Compagnie Impériale d'Éthiopie was founded on March 9, 1894, following authorization from Emperor Menelik. The construction of the line was started by the successor company Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de fer Éthiopiens (CIE) and was completed by 1917 by the successor company Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Franco-Ethiopien (CFE), which is funded by the French state . The line connects Ethiopia's capital Addis Ababa in the highlands (2,355 meters above sea level) with the port of Djibouti , which was a French protectorate at the time , and was for a long time the only rail link in Ethiopia .

history

Imperial Society of Ethiopia 1894–1906

After a first French railway idea in 1883, it should take a few years and probably also the accession of Emperor Menelik II to the throne in 1889 to give the idea more concrete form. On February 11, 1893, Emperor Menelik II had issued a decree to build a railway line. The Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg , who had helped develop Ethiopia technically and enjoyed a good reputation at the imperial court, was able to found the Compagnie Impériale d'Éthiopie on March 9, 1894 with a concession for the construction of a line between , thanks to an authorization from the emperor Addis Ababa to the border of the French Somali coast (today: Djibouti ). The operating license was valid for 99 years, but the building license was limited to 1909. In addition to the construction of the railway, the construction of a telegraph line along the route was also agreed. French approval for the stretch from the Ethiopian border to Djibouti was granted on April 27, 1896. The railway company was renamed Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de fer Ethiopiens (CIE) on August 7, 1896 . Due to mediocre funding, construction could only begin in October 1897. The work was entrusted to the construction company Duparchy et Vigouroux . The route was driven from Djibouti, as the part of the building material delivered from Europe arrived here. The construction was under the direction of Alfred Ilg and the French partner M. Chefneux. In 1902 the section to Dire Dawa was completed. But the political climate deteriorated noticeably. The British got involved in politics, and the Italians' influence also grew, making it increasingly difficult for society to find the funds it needed. In 1906, the sources of money finally dried up due to the prevailing political instability, so the company had to file for bankruptcy on June 6, 1907 and leave the route unfinished.

Compagnie Franco-Ethiopienne 1908–1945

The Compagnie de Chemin de Fer Franco-Ethiopien de Jibuti à Addis Abeba (CFE) was founded on May 15, 1909 to continue building the line , and thanks to the French state guarantee, it was easier to find money. Construction work was resumed on March 24, 1908 after six years of interruption, so that in 1915 Akaka Beseka , 21 kilometers from Addis Ababa, was reached. In 1917 the capital was also connected to the railway. On December 3, 1929, the reception building of the main train station in Addis Ababa was inaugurated.

Opening dates

• July 22, 1901 Djibouti– Douanle , 106 km
• 1902 (end of the year) to kilometer 311
• 1906 (bankruptcy) to Dire Dawa,
• 1915 to Akaka Beseka, 763 km
• 1917 to Addis Ababa, 784 km

post war period

Freight traffic in the years 1953–1958 (in t):

year	Import goods	Export goods
1953	108,304	140.164
1954	100,240	68,257
1955	87,401	75,346
1956	88,787	59,142
1957	102,970	76,394
1958	127,306	47,235

In 1958 the following passenger numbers were achieved:

• 1st class: 6,631
• 2nd class: 14,132
• 3rd class: 380,333

The railway line was damaged in the Ogaden War in 1977/78 and was therefore closed for a year. In 1981 the operating company was renamed Chemin des fer Djibouti-Ethiopia (CDE). In 1985 there was a serious railway accident at Awash with several hundred deaths.

→ Main article : Awash railway accident

The company's current name is Ethio-Djibouti Railway . It was privatized in 2006. In March 2006, the concession for cross-border operation was transferred to the South African company COMAZAR . It had beaten its competitor, the Indian company RITES . The concession has a term of 25 years. Currently (2010) the railway infrastructure is being overhauled, the remaining 20 kg / m rails are being replaced by 40 / kg / m rails and 25,000 steel sleepers are being replaced by concrete sleepers. All of this was granted only limited success: In March 2004, passenger traffic on the Addis Ababa - Dire Dawa section was discontinued and this section of the route was shut down completely in 2008. Since 2017, the meter-gauge line between Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa has often been built over or crossed by the new SGR line. Contrary to all reports, there is still tourist traffic on the meter-gauge route between Dire Dawa and Djibouti, as was observed in March 2019. According to this, a passenger train runs from Dire Dawa to Djibouti once or twice a week and returns after about two days.

New construction in standard gauge under Chinese direction 2011–2016

In 2011, two Chinese companies were commissioned to build the new railway line from Djibouti to Addis Ababa . It is standard gauge and electrified. The 756-kilometer route opened on October 5, 2016.

Buildings

Addis Ababa Train Station (January 2018)

View over the tracks of the Addis Ababa train station (January 2018)

The route is in meter gauge. Some aqueducts had to be built for the water supply.

The substructure consisted of a 2.8 meter wide and 35 cm high ballast bed. Specially made steel sleepers, known as the "Menelek type", were used for the superstructure. There were 13 steel sleepers weighing 30 kilograms on ten meters of track. The ten meter long pieces of rail weighed 200 kilograms. This allowed a maximum axle pressure of eight tons.

The telegraph line was installed at a distance of around 70 meters from the railway line. There were four lines, one for the long distance of the railway, one for the intermediate stations, and two public lines. The telegraph line had to be built with iron masts to protect against termites . They consisted of three pieces of 75 kilograms each that were put into each other. Due to the weight and the high temperatures, construction was difficult.

vehicles

Steam locomotives

The Ilg family in front of a locomotive from SLM, Winterthur in Dire Dawa .

The first steam locomotives for the railway were built by the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Factory (SLM). From 1899 to the First World War, passenger locomotives no. 1–9 with the 1'C wheel arrangement and 13 heavy two-cylinder composite freight locomotives no. 21–33 with the 1'D wheel arrangement were delivered. The latter were partly built according to drawings from Switzerland at the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM) and developed further into the more powerful superheated steam twin locomotives with more powerful boilers, of which numbers 121-129 before the First World War and 33 between the war years more were delivered. The SLM was only used for six replicas after the SACM locomotives showed defects. After World War II many locomotives on heavy fuel rebuilt

In 1937 the two G 4/5 numbers 7 + 8 of the Appenzeller Bahn were taken over. Before shipping, the SLM converted the two AB tank locomotives with new two-axle tenders into machines with tenders . They were given the numbers 101 and 102 and were still in operation for twelve years.

Diesel railcars

Fiat built diesel railcars .

Diesel locomotives

In 1950/1951 the Schweizerische Lokomotivfabrik Winterthur delivered twelve diesel locomotives with the wheel arrangement (Ao1Ao) - (Ao1Ao) with an output of 680 PS (500 kW) and a top speed of 90/65 km / h with a service weight of 50 tons. They had a one-sided driver's cab with a distinctive cow catcher and a charge air cooling device. They often ran in double traction and were referred to as the M series for Service M archandise . It was originally planned to procure Class V passenger locomotives for Service V oyageur . However, the project was abandoned after a derailment during a test drive.

In 1954, the CFE put six Bo'Bo 'diesel locomotives with 925 hp into service, manufactured by Alsthom at the Tarbes plant. They have the company numbers BB01 to 06 and were manufactured according to the recommendations of OFERFOM, a body that coordinated the cooperation between the railway companies in French Africa. Derived from the basic type BB500, which was delivered to Madagascar in 1953, it is a simple and robust machine with a service weight of 44 tons. The diesel engine is the new, very successful MGO V12 ASHR, from which numerous successor models are being developed. If it was set to 925 hp at the factory, it later had to be throttled to 660 hp by Diré Daoua's technicians, given the route profile and the low service weight of the locomotives in terms of power. In 1963 the BB11-13 with the MGO V12 BSHR engine were still delivered. The successor model (type AD12B) was delivered from 1972 (1972: BB1201 - 1204; 1978 to 1980: BB1205 - 1209; 1984: BB1210 - 1215; 1997: BB1216 - 1219). Four CC2400 locomotives were delivered in 1965 and 1968. They were given the company numbers CC2001 to CC2004.

Duration

Rolling stock in 1970: 23 mainline locomotives (diesel-electric), 10 shunting locomotives (diesel-electric), 2 railcars . 21 1st and 2nd class passenger cars (including sleeping cars), 39 3rd class cars and 613 freight cars. The steam locomotives were abolished.

literature

• Elisabeth Biasio: Splendor and splendor at the Menilek court . Verlag NZZ, Zurich 2004, ISBN 3-03823-089-8 .
• Alfred Ilg : On the history of the Ethiopian railways. In: Annual reports of the Geographical-Ethnographic Society in Zurich , Volume 10 (1909–1910), pp. 113 ff. ( Digitized version ).
• Conrad Keller: Alfred Ilg, his life and work as a Swiss cultural messenger in Abyssinia . Huber, Frauenfeld 1918.
• Heribert Küng: Minister of State Alfred Ilg (1854–1916), a Thurgauer at the court of Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia . Thesis-Verlag, Zurich 1999. ISBN 3-908544-34-3 .
• Willi Loepfe: Alfred Ilg and the Ethiopian Railway . Atlantis-Verlag, Zurich 1974, ISBN 3-7611-0446-4 .
• Neil Robinson: World Rail Atlas and Historical Summary 7 = North, East ans Central Africa .oO 2009, p. 39ff u. Plate 40. ISBN 978-954-92184-3-5 .

Web links

Commons : Chemin de fer djibouto-Ethiopia  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Security
• Current information in www.addistribune.com

swell

1. ↑ ^{a b c d} La Compagnie de chemin de fer djibouto-Ethiopienne. Archivistes sans frontières / ASF-France, accessed on April 2, 2017 (French). 
2. ↑ Robinson, p. 40.
3. ↑ Kurt Ewert: The countries of Africa, Volume 22 Ethiopia , 1959, page 42
4. ↑ Local History in Ethiopia ( Memento of the original from June 16, 2007 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . 
5. ↑ Continental Railway Journal 161 (2010), p. 112.
6. ↑ Robinson, pp. 40f.
7. ↑ See: NN: Ethiopia – Djibouti In: HaRakevet 126 (September 2019), p. 21.
8. ^ Ethiopia - Djibouti railway inaugurated . In: Railway Gazette International . October 5, 2016, ISSN  0373-5346 ( [1] [accessed October 6, 2016]).
9. ↑ Steam locomotive list. In: The French-Ethiopian Railway Company and the Djibouti-Ethiopian Railway Company - Djibouti Addis-Ababa. Retrieved April 23, 2017 . 
10. ^ The diesel locomotives SLM Winterthur and Brown Boveri & Co. In: Le Chemin de Fer Franco Ethiopien et Djibouto Ethiopia - Djibouti Addis-Ababa. Retrieved April 2, 2017 . 
11. ↑ CHEMIN DE FER DJIBOUTO - ETHIOPIA