Rail transport in Ethiopia

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Rail routes in Ethiopia:
  • Addis Ababa – Djibouti - in operation
  • Awash – Hara Gebeya – Mek'ele - under construction
  • Djibouti – Addis Ababa - abandoned
    • 500 francs share of the Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de Fer Éthiopiens dated December 14, 1899; Illustration: Emperor Menelik II, the father of the last Negus, awaits the first train with his court.
    Addis Ababa Railway Station
    View over the tracks of the Addis Ababa train station (January 2018)
    Railway station in Dire Dawa

    The rail transport in Ethiopia began in 1894 with the establishment of semi-public French company Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de Fer of Ethiopia . The resulting route is now the only rail link in Ethiopia . However, there are projects to expand rail traffic.

    history

    The company completed the meter-gauge railway line Djibouti – Addis Ababa by 1917 . The line was the only rail link in Ethiopia until 2005, but was only operated between Djibouti and Dire Dawa .

    In addition, on May 15, 1902 , Emperor Menelik II granted the British Government and the Government of Sudan a concession to connect the railways from Sudan and Uganda via Ethiopian territory and another concession on August 28, 1904 to connect the railways of the Link Sudan and British Somaliland . Both projects never came to fruition.

    During the time when Eritrea was not yet independent and a province of the Ethiopian Empire (1962–1993), the Massaua – Biscia railway there was also part of the Ethiopian rail traffic. However, due to the effects of the Eritrean War of Independence, it was no longer navigable since 1976. The track has a track width of 950 mm.

    Projects

    In September 2010, the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) announced that it would build a total of 5000 kilometers of new railway lines. The national five-year plan for the period from 2010 to 2015 envisaged the construction of 2,395 kilometers of new routes to connect 49 cities. The costs should be 4.2 billion euros. According to an agreement made with the China Railway Group (CREC) at the end of October 2011 , a 317-kilometer section of the Addis Ababa – Djibouti to Mieso line was initially rebuilt in standard gauge at a cost of 1.2 billion US dollars . On October 5, 2016, the 756-kilometer electrified line was opened. In 2011 and 2014, orders for electric locomotives were placed with a Chinese company .

    A light rail system for Addis Ababa is also under construction. The People's Republic of China wants to secure 85% of the funding. It should go into operation in January 2015. The opening took place on September 21, 2015.

    As early as March 2000, Ethiopia and Sudan agreed a letter of intent to build a 2,000-kilometer railway line. The costs were approximately 1.5 billion US dollars estimated (USD). In addition to local engineers, Chinese engineering companies were also used for the planning. It is not certain whether the project will continue after the independence of South Sudan .

    literature

    • Alfred Ilg : On the history of the Ethiopian railways. In: Annual reports of the Geographical-Ethnographic Society in Zurich , Volume 10 (1909–1910), p. 113 ff. ( Digitized version )
    • 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

    swell

    1. ↑ Galerie Sevogel: Historical Securities Volume 3 . NZZ Verlag, 1984, pp. 114–115 ( ISBN 3-85823-108-8 )
    2. ↑ Robinson, p. 40.
    3. ↑ http://www.sudantribune.com/spip.php?article36391 sudantribune.com, accessed June 16, 2016
    4. ↑ Solomon Mengist: Ethiopia, China sign railway construction deal. (No longer available online.) AfricaNews.com, October 27, 2011, archived from the original on December 29, 2011 ; accessed on December 2, 2011 . 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. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.africanews.com
    5. ^ Walter Rothschild: Other Middle East Railways - L. Ethiopia . In: HaRakevet 95 = Vol. 25/4 (December 2011), p. 21.
    6. ^ Ethiopia - Djibouti railway inaugurated . In: Railway Gazette International . October 5, 2016, ISSN  0373-5346 ( [1] [accessed October 6, 2016]).
    7. ↑ Walter Rothschild: Ethopia: Electric Locos . In: HaRakevet 107 (December 2014), p. 15.
    8. ^ Walter Rothschild: Other Middle East Railways - L. Ethiopia . In: HaRakevet 95 = Vol. 25/4 (December 2011), p. 21.
    9. ↑ Walter Rothschild: Ethopia: Light Rail; CNR TRam . In: HaRakevet 107 (December 2014), p. 15.
    10. ↑ http://www.economist.com/news/21665199-addis-ababa-has-opened-first-part-new-light-rail-system-sub-saharan-africa-gets-its-first-metro Sub- Saharan Africa gets its first metro. Addis Ababa has opened the first part of a new light rail system. Economist.com, September 22, 2015, accessed November 6, 2015.
    11. ↑ See: here .