Rail transport in Sudan

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Route network

The railway in Sudan was until the 1970s the main means of transport over long distances in Sudan , but since the 1990s has only a minor role. The railway was replaced by modern coaches in long-distance passenger transport and by articulated trucks in freight transport .

history

Colonial times

State railway

The central transport route in Sudan, given by nature, is the Nile . However, it is no longer navigable south of Aswan because it is interrupted by 6 cataracts between Khartoum and Aswan . In addition, the river has a large S-shaped course on this route, which extends the distance to be covered by several hundred kilometers compared to the straight line.

The first railway construction in Sudan, the Wadi Halfa – Kerma line initiated by Egypt , was started on February 15, 1875 from Wadi Halfa and bypassed the 2nd and 3rd cataracts. Cape gauge was chosen as the gauge . Work on the project had to be stopped again initially due to lack of money and later because of the Mahdist riots. Eventually, the British war against the Mahdists resulted in work being resumed and the line completed in 1897. However, it was only operated until the end of 1904.

The Khartoum – Wadi Halfa railway line was opened on January 4, 1900 as a supply route for the troops advancing in Sudan from Wadi Halfa. It was also built in Cape Gauge, a gauge that became the standard for further railway construction in Sudan. The line received a branch line to Meroe , which bypassed the 4th cataract of the Nile.

In addition, the Atbara – Port Sudan railway to the port of Port Sudan was added to this line in Atbara from 1904, which went into operation on January 26, 1906 and served on the one hand to supply Khartoum better and more cheaply but was also of great military importance .

The railway from Khartoum to the south was expanded from the winter of 1906/07. In 1912 El Obeid was reached. This route was linked to far-reaching projects in the British colonies in Central and South Africa, but these did not come about after the outbreak of the First World War . At the end of the 1950s, the line was extended to Nyala and Wau .

A railway connection built in the 1920s from Sannar via Al-Qadarif and Kassala to the line from Atbara to Port Sudan served to transport cotton from the Gezira plain . It was shut down in 2005.

Jazirah Railway

The light rail of the Jazira project (Sudan Gezira Board), the Jazira Railway , which was also built in the 1920s, was one of the most extensive light rail networks in Africa. It had a track width of 610 mm. It still seems to be in operation.

tram

In Khartoum there was a steam tram from 1903 . This tram was later electrified . A tram service no longer exists there today.

Republic of Sudan

Close to Khartoum-Bahri train station
Goods wagons in the Khartoum-Bahri train station
Atbara depot
Atbara depot
Kosti station on the banks of the Nile. Goods destined for South Sudan are loaded onto barges here
Former third grade between Babanusa and Aweil in South Sudan

With the help of a World Bank loan , the network from El Obeid to the west via Babanusa to Nyala and in 1961 from Babanusa to the south to Wau (1961) took place around 1959 .

Passenger traffic on this route was discontinued in 1991; the train service in the following years served to transport armaments to the army- held city of Wau . In the further course of the war, the rail link was destroyed. It has only been drivable again since 2010. The southern section of the route with a length of 248 km is located in South Sudan, which has been independent since July 9, 2011 .

Until the beginning of the 1970s, the railroad in Sudan had largely the transport monopoly for long-distance traffic . 75 percent of the exported and imported goods were transported by rail. Passenger transport was offered on all lines .

Since the 1970s, the expansion of highways has been favored in Sudanese transport policy instead of rail. No more investments were made in the railway infrastructure and hardly any investments in the vehicle fleet. The use of the railway decreased dramatically. The amount of goods transported with it fell by 80 percent between 1970 and 1990, 40 percent of the transport capacity of the railway remained unused. Rail operations now showed massive deficits.

The switch from steam locomotives to diesel locomotives took place in the 1970s, although individual steam locomotives were in service until the 1990s.

Railway reform

A national congress was held in August 1991 to save the railroad. Among other things, he recommended:

  • cancel the railroad's debts to the government and central bank,
  • to give the railway administration freedom of action in pursuing a strategy favorable to the railway and
  • to transform the railroad into an exclusively commercial operation, whose transport tariffs are cost-covering or even generate a surplus in order to be able to finance modernization projects from their own resources.

This approach failed due to the fact that railways, which have to pay for their own infrastructure, are not economically competitive in competition with road traffic, for which its infrastructure is made available by the state. The recommendations of the congress were first implemented. As a result, and through investments in the infrastructure, the transport volume of the railways tripled by 1995. One of the improvements undertaken was that the means of communication were modernized. There were radios for medium and short wave procured. The repair of the lines that remained in service was started. More important stations received fax connections . Vehicles were repaired. The number of operational locomotives for long-distance traffic was increased from 34 to 55, ten new ones were purchased. The number of shunting locomotives was increased from 7 to 11. 30 cattle wagons were restored, and some freight wagons were bought new in Iran . The equipment in the workshops has been modernized. The staff received training and further education.

The El Obeid - El Obeid oil refinery and al-Mujallad - Abu Jabira oil field were newly laid out . Seven bridges were renewed on the western route and 80 bridges on the Wadi Halfa - Khartoum stretch, and the Khartoum - Jelli stretch repaired. The surveying work has been completed for the new construction project for the old Sallum connection (28 kilometers south of Bur Sudan) - Suakin .

Infrastructure

The rail network is single-track and in 1961 - the year of its greatest expansion - comprised 5995 kilometers. Today 4750 km should still be in operation. The civil war in South Sudan has since made part of the network in the south-west of the country impassable.

Routes In addition to the routes listed above, the following are still in operation:

  • Sennar - Ad Damazin
  • El Obeid - Abu Khiraz Oil Field
  • El Muglad - Abu Jabra Oil Field

business

The traffic on the routes of the Sudanese railways is slow and inefficient. Self-assessment is that the condition of the railway system is "catastrophic". Traffic is directed from five regional control centers. Atbara is the only still operating depot of the railways of Sudan. There are also other smaller repair shops in Kassala, Kusti , Sannar , El Obeid and ar-Rahad .

passenger traffic

In passenger few connections will only be offered. Passenger traffic between Atbara and Bur Sudan has been suspended since around 2007. There is a weekly connection in each direction between Khartoum and Wadi Halfa (travel time 36 hours). Passenger traffic on this route is increased by a night connection from Khartoum to Atbara. The travel time is around nine hours (excluding sleeping cars or air conditioning ). The connection Khartoum - Nyala is offered every fortnight. The planned travel time is four days, but in practice it is up to seven days. A security train with an armored car drives ahead of this train. The train was observed in Khartoum with a length of 13-15 carriages that were filled to capacity.

Freight transport

The routes from the two ports of Bur Sudan and Wadi Halfa to the capital and occasionally further via Kusti to Nyala are of some importance for freight traffic today . The connection Bur Sudan - Khartoum accounts for two thirds of the total transport volume by rail. In future, Deutsche Bahn sees a focus on the transport of crude oil and crude oil products. For the purchase of locomotives and wagons for oil transport as well as for sleepers and spare parts, the railway was given 10 million US dollars.

swell

literature

Movies

  • Beyer-Garratt Locomotives on Sudan Railways . Great Britain 1948. 16mm color film, 38 minutes.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Robinson, p. 67ff.
  2. ↑ Robinson, plate 36.
  3. ↑ Forum entry December 2014
  4. ↑ Overview of rolling stock and status 2011
  5. ↑ Robinson, p. 67.
  6. ↑ Robinson, plate 35a and 35b.
  7. ↑ See: here and Robinson, plate 35a and 35b.
  8. ^ Bashir promises more railway construction in South Sudan , in: Sudan Tribune, March 11, 2010.
  9. ↑ a b c d Illustration of the railway on the homepage of the Embassy of Sudan in Germany.
  10. ↑ HaRakevet No. 88 (March 2010), p. 14f.
  11. ^ After John Huntley: Railways in the Cinema . London 1969, p. 115, available from the British Film Institute .