Compagnie des phosphates et des chemins de fer de Gafsa

Compagnie des phosphates et des chemins de fer de Gafsa
legal form	Corporation
founding	1897
resolution	1976
Reason for dissolution	Nationalization and integration into the Compagnie des phosphates de Gafsa
Seat	Paris , France
Number of employees	7010
Branch	Mining , transport
Status: January 1956

The company Compagnie des phosphates et des chemins de fer de Gafsa , abbreviated CFG , German roughly phosphate and Railway Company of Gafsa , was a 1897 founded French company for the construction and operation of phosphate - mines in the region Métlaoui in southern Tunisia and its development with a 250 km long railway line to the port of Sfax .

history

CFG share from 1920

Between 1885 and 1886, the French geologist Philippe Thomas discovered rich phosphate deposits in the southwest of the French protectorate of Tunisia . An investment company represented by Maurice de Robert was interested in their dismantling . On August 15, 1896, she signed a contract with Georges Pavillier, director of public works in Tunisia. The agreement gave the company the exclusive right to mine phosphate on state territory for 60 years. For this purpose, the company had to build a railway from Sfax to Gafsa and on to Wadi Selja or any other point in the phosphate mining area between Gafsa and Wadi Selja. The society was also awarded 30,000 hectares of state cultivated land in the administrative area of ​​Sfax free of charge.

On May 22, 1897, a Tunisian administrative resolution approved the establishment of the CFG, which took over the rights of Maurice de Robert. The donors were the two Swiss private banks Mirabaud and Hottinger , the iron ore mining company Société Mokta El Hadid , which operates in Algeria, and the French industrialist Robert de Nervo , who himself sat on the board of directors as vice-chairman. In the background, the company was supported by Paulin Talabot , who was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Mokta El Hadid until 1883 and whose niece was married to Robert de Nervo.

The CFG opened the railway line to Métlaoui in 1899 , where the first phosphate mine was set up, others followed in 1903 in Redeyef and in 1904 in Moularès .

After the concession of 1897 expired in 1967, rail operations were transferred to the Société nationale des chemins de fer tunisiens (SNCFT), the mining company was nationalized in 1976 and integrated into the Compagnie des phosphates de Gafsa .

Mining

The mining area awarded to the company comprised an area 50 km long and 10 km wide. It was southwest of Gafsa and extended to the border with Algeria . It comprised the mountain ranges Zitoun, Zimra, Alima, Seldja, Metlaoui and Stah as well as the mountains to the north in the vicinity of Tamerza . The company was also given the preferential right to mine phosphate deposits that were already known or were to be discovered on the same terms, as long as they were located in Tunisian territory south of the latitude of Sfax and north of the latitude of El Hamma .

The phosphate mines were in Métlaoui, Redeyef and Moularès. The mineral apatite was extracted from underground mines , transported by rail to Sfax and processed into superphosphate there . In 1955, more than half of the phosphate extracted in Algeria and Tunisia was produced by CFG, which was roughly a quarter of North African production. The proceeds from the phosphate extraction financed the state budget of Tunisia for many years.

In 1906 600,000 tons were shipped, in 1907 already 754,565 tons, of which 296,262 tons to France, 185,156 tons to Italy, 136,041 tons to Great Britain. Production reached over 3 million tons per year in the 1920s, then dropped to just under 2 million tons after a slump during World War II. In addition to local mine workers, many came from Algeria , Libya and Morocco , who lived in Gourbis , a typical mud hut type of the region. In 1955 there were 5,265 employees in the mining industry, the European share was only 8%.

railroad

stretch

Gafsabahn
Length profile of the main line of the Gafsabahn in Tunisia
CFG route network
Route length:	476.3 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	15  ‰
Legend CBG to Sousse - Tunis 0 Sfax 2 m 62 Graïba 42 m There was 7 m Zebbeus 248 m 123 Meknessi 258 m 204 Gafsa 273 m El Aguila 256 m Mdhila -Mine 241 m Mdhila-Gare 253 m 243 Métlaoui 202 m Tozeur 48 m Selja Gorge 270 Tabeddit 404 m 285 Redeyef 555 m Moularès Henchir souatir CBG to Kasserine - Tunis

Bridge in Gabès

The CFG built a network of meter gauge lines. The main line was 242.2 km long route Sfax - Graïba - Meknassy - Gafsa - Métlaoui , which opened on 20 November 1899th It has slopes up to 15 ‰. The branches to Zebbeus and the extension through the Selja Gorge to Redeyef followed . In 1913, a line financed by the government reached Tozeur , during the First World War the line to Gabès , which was also paid for by the government, was opened and in 1921 the branch line to Mdhilla was added as the last line for the time being, which was operated by the Société nationale des chemins in 1970 de fer tunisiens (SNCFT) has been extended by 13 km to Sehib .

In 1917 there were 16 trains per day on the main line, two of which were mixed trains . The phosphate was transported in four-axle steel self-unloading cars.

In 1955 the railway company had 1,764 employees.

The CFG route network was connected to Tunis by the meter-gauge route of the Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma (CBG): on the one hand in Henchir-Souatir with the route via Kasserine - Sousse opened in 1909 , on the other hand in Sfax with the direct route to Sousse opened in 1911 leading route along the coast.

The direct connection from Gafsa to Gabès was only opened in 1983 by the SNCFT.

Tabular list

route	length	opening
Sfax - Graïba - Meknessi - Gafsa - Métlaoui	242.2 km	November 20, 1899
Meknessi zebbeus	10.8 km	1899
Métlaoui - Tabeddit - Redeyef	44.1 km	1907
Métlaoui - Tozeur	54.2 km	March 1, 1913
Moularès - Henchir souatir	11.9 km	1907
Tabeditt – Moularès	8.8 km	1909
Graïba - Gabès	83.1 km	July 2, 1916
El Aguila - Mdhila	13.7 km	1921
Mdhilla-Gare – Mdhilla-Mines	7.5 km	1921

Rolling stock

All vehicles were equipped with side buffers and Westinghouse air brakes.

Steam locomotives

Locomotive No. 25, built by SACM in Belfort

Locomotive no.82, built by SLM in Winterthur

Locomotive No. 111, built by SLM in Winterthur

The steam locomotives of the CFG came mainly from Corpet-Louvet in Paris (17 pieces) and the Swiss Locomotive and Maschinenfabrik in Winterthur (44 pieces).

The order came to Switzerland because there was already experience in building high-performance narrow-gauge locomotives. The underlying construction was the 1'D locomotive of the NSB class 19a , which was used to transport heavy ore trains on the Ofotenbahn . The design was first used on the Ethiopian Railway on a narrow-gauge locomotive that was set on the railway with the numbers 21-33 . Compared to the mallet tank locomotives used at the time for narrow-gauge railways for large tractive forces , the design was much simpler, but still more powerful because the tender allowed a larger tank. The ability to move around curves was achieved by laterally shifting Gölsdorf axes . The design also proved itself in the G-4/5 locomotives of the Rhaetian Railway and was only supplemented for the Gafsa Railway with an additional coupling axle for the 1'E wheel arrangement.

numbering	number	Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	delivery	Factory numbers
1-3	3	1′C	Corpet Louvet	1898	699-701
4-8	5	1′C	Corpet Louvet	1899	724-728
9-12	4th	1′C	Corpet Louvet	1899	734-737
13-17	5	1′C	Corpet Louvet	1900	822-826
18-26	9	1′D	SACM	1905
81-90	10	1′E	SLM	1908
91-96	6th	1′E	SLM	1909
97-100	4th	1′E	SLM	1913
101-106	6th	1′E	SLM	1914
107-110	4th	1′E	SLM	1909
111-116	6th	1′E	SLM	1925
117–		1′E	Franco Belge
151-154	4th	D.	SLM	1913
155-158	4th	D.	SLM	1925

Diesel locomotives

numbering		Wheel alignment	Manufacturer	delivery	Factory numbers	power	Power transmission
201-217	17th	Bo′Bo ′	Alsthom , Sulzer	1950		610 hp	electric
301-314	4th	Bo′Bo ′	Whitcomb	1949-50	61 067-61 080		electric
351-354	4th	B.	Decauville	1955			hydraulic
401-404	4th	Bo′Bo ′	GE	1962	34574-34577		electric
405-408	4th	Bo′Bo ′	GE	1965	35687-690		electric
501-506	6th	Co′Co ′	EMD	1964 1965 1966	28354-355 30326-327 31867-868		electric

See also

• History of the railroad in Tunisia

literature

• From the Gafsa railway . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 70 , no. 17 , 1917, pp. 202 ff ., doi : 10.5169 / seals-33961 .

Web links

• Cie des phosphates et chemins de fer de Gafsa (Tunisie). (PDF) In: Les entreprises coloniales françaises . Retrieved April 17, 2017 (French, source collection). 
• La Compagnie des phosphates et du chemin de fer de Gafsa. In: Sfax de 1881 à 1956. Retrieved April 21, 2017 . 

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Tunis . In: Freiherr von Röll (Ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . tape 9 . Berlin, Vienna 1921, p. 380-381 ( Zeno.org ).
2. ↑ Les entreprises coloniales françaises , footnote on page 3
3. ^ Phosphate industry in Tunisia: Compagnie des Phosphates de Gafsa (CPG). Invest in Gafsa, accessed on May 1, 2017 . 
4. ↑ ^{a b c} Roger Brunet: Les phosphates de Gafsa . In: L'information geographique . tape 21 , no. 4 , 1957, pp. 159–160 , doi : 10.3406 / ingeo.1957.1732 ( persee.fr [accessed April 19, 2017]).
5. ↑ J. Levainville: Ressources minérales de l'Afrique du Nord . tape 33 , no. 182 , 1924, pp. 151-166 ( html ).
6. ^ Phosphates tunisiens , entreprises-coloniales PDF
7. ↑ From Africa: Tunisia . In: Newspaper of the Association of German Railway Administrations . 1895, p. 642 ( limited preview in Google Book search).
8. ↑ ^{a b} Les Lignes du Grand-Sud "Chemin de fer de Gafsa" Sfax - Gafsa - Metlaoui - Tozeur & Sfax - Ghraïba - Gabès. Timetable Center, accessed on April 17, 2017 . 
9. ^ From the Gafsa-Bahn, Schweizerische Bauzeitung
10. ^ The new 4/5 coupled composite locomotive of the Rhaetian Railway . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 45 , no. 1 , 1905, pp. 2-6 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-25365 .
11. ↑ ^{a b} The 5/6-coupled narrow gauge locomotive of the Compagnie des Phosphates et du Chemin de fer de Gafsa . In: Schweizerische Bauzeitung . tape 52 , no. 5 , August 1, 1908, doi : 10.5169 / seals-27460 .
12. ^ Corpet & Louvet - Inventaire des livraisons de locomotives. (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on May 26, 2016 ; Retrieved April 19, 2017 (French). Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
13. ↑ Forty years of Sulzer diesel traction . In: Gebrüder Sulzer AG (Ed.): Swiss construction newspaper . tape 70 , no. 48 , November 29, 1952, pp. 685 , doi : 10.5169 / seals-59719 .
14. ^ Sulzer powered locomotives in Tunisia: Sfax - Gafsa Railway. In: Derby Sulzers. Retrieved April 21, 2017 .