Rail transport in Madagascar

Manakara – Fianarantsoa
Railway bridge over one of the numerous rivers
Rail network in Madagascar
Route length:	163 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Legend 0.0 Manakara 2.1 Manakara Airport - crossing the runway Mananano Marofarihy 11.4 RN 12 Mizilo Sahasinaka Ionilahy Ambinany Manampatrana RN 14 Tolongoina Sahambavy Ambalakely Matsiatra 160.6 Antavivola 162.5 Fianarantsoa

The Rail transport in Madagascar is taking place on several lines. It is concessionally divided between two companies: the northern three lines, which have their starting point at Madagascar's largest seaport and which include the train station in the capital Antananarivo , are operated by Madarail , the southern line ( Réseau Sud ) by the company Fianarantsoa Cote Est (FCE ) . The route network of all four lines is around 670 kilometers long (as of 2008). Driving is on meter gauge .

history

The Diego Suarez - Camp d'Ambre railway line and a 350-kilometer road from the inland port city of Maevatanana on the navigable Ikopa, which connects the city with Mahajanga , to Antananarivo were built before 1900 . But it was soon realized that the main port, Tamatave, had to be connected to the capital, Antananarivo. In 1896 work began on a railway line from the Pangalana Canal to Ampasimanolotra (formerly: Brickaville). From 1901 the construction of the railway from Brickaville began. The building material and the rails were brought to Tamatave on ocean freighters and from there shipped to Brickaville by sloop .

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  Mallet of the C.de F.de Madagascar

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  Fianarantsoa station building (2007)

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  Freight train in Andasibe

The inauguration of the route between what was then Brickaville and Antananarivo took place on October 1, 1909. Subsequently, the line from Brickaville to Tamatave was tackled, which runs almost exclusively in a north-easterly direction along the coastline. The total length is 369 km. Next, was in the years 1914-1923 spur track of Moramanga built for Alaotrasee (168 km), which was intended mainly for sugar cane transport. In 1924 the line from Antananarivo to Antsirabe (158 km) was extended, and from 1926 to 1936 the line Manakara – Fianarantsoa (163 km) was finally extended.

There are also a few branch lines , the longest of which, at 19 kilometers, is used for chrome mining in Morarano .

The planned connection of the routes between Antsirabe and Fianarantsoa as well as a possible extension to the south to Tulear and Fort-Dauphin were never realized, so that there are two independent island companies in Madagascar .

Operation today

Since Madagascar's independence from 1958 to 2003, the state-owned enterprise was completely run down. Of the last seven locomotives , only one was still running, the employees' wages were seven months in arrears. In this situation the company was split in half and privatized. The much larger northern part went to the Madarail . The concession was set to 25 years and includes a loan of six million US dollars for the purchase of five brand new locomotives. The financing is divided equally between the World Bank and the European Investment Bank . In addition to these new acquisitions, the World Bank is supporting Madarail with a total of 50 million US dollars. 175 km of this will be renewed and 235 km and seven bridges will be reinforced. In addition, the renovation of the Andasibe train station is planned.

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  Train crosses runway

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  Passenger train on the southern route

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  Manampatrana train station

Until January 2008, the southern route was the only one that was set up for passenger traffic for five years. It is very interesting for those interested in railways, as 67 bridges are crossed over 163 kilometers and 48 tunnels are passed through. In addition, in is 22 ° 7 '18.9 "  S , 48 ° 1' 11.4"  O to an aircraft runway at the same level crossed.

On a section of the northern section, Madarail is once again serving passenger traffic: the 250-kilometer route between the port city of Toamasina and the Moramanga hub station . The trains run three times a week in both directions and serve 17 stations and nine stops within twelve communities along the route. Travel time is between 13 and 18 hours. This means that 5,600 passengers are carried in three passenger wagons every month.

In December 2008, the city of Antananarivo was given some tram vehicles by the Swiss Forchbahn . The six BDe-4/4 railcars and some control cars were specially retrofitted with diesel engines. The line should serve the axis Alarobia (stade d'alarobia) - Soarano (train station) Soanierana - Tanjombato - Ambatofotsy - roughly in a north-south direction across the city center. Since the tram is supposed to run on the former freight railroad tracks, it is connected to the rail network and is even supposed to run partly on the same route. However, political instability since March 2009 has prevented the plans from being implemented. The compositions of the Forchbahn are still waiting for their first use in Soarano station today (as of February 2, 2012).

Web links

Commons : Rail Transport in Madagascar  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Official website of Madarail (French)
• Detailed report with many photos
• Scenes from a train journey on the "Südbahn" (French)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ ^{a b} http://www.tt-forums.net/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=31524
2. ↑ ^{a b} Report of the World Bank
3. ↑ http://www.priori.ch/d_berichte/default2.htm
4. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from November 29, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) 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. 
5. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 17, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) 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. L'Express de Madagascar 
6. ↑ Afrik.com: Un tramway suisse à Antananarivo
7. ↑ Picture gallery for the transport of trains from Zurich to Tana ( Memento of the original from April 9, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.