Rail transport in Togo

The rail transport in Togo has over one hundred years of history. Togo's rail network had a maximum length of 525 km. There was no connection to the rail networks of the neighboring countries Ghana , Benin or Burkina Faso . With the exception of two sections, the entire network was probably shut down in 1999.

Railways in Togo - maximum network expansion

history

German colonial times

Henschel locomotive for the Togo Railway

Lomé train station during the German colonial era

The foundations of the network were laid during the German colonial era . It was mainly used to transport agricultural products.

The 44 km long railway line from Lomé to Anecho was the first to be built in what was then German Togo . It was put into operation in 1905. The meter gauge used there set the standard for future railway construction in Togo.

→ Main article : Lomé – Aného railway

On January 27, 1907, the birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm II , the 119 km long railway line from Lomé to Kpalimé was opened, the second railway line in Togo.

→ Main article : Lomé – Kpalimé railway line

The Lomé– Atakpamé railway was built from 1908 and opened in 1913 for its entire length of 167 km. It branches off from the Lomé – Kpalimé line at 2.7 km. It was the only one that was extended during the period of the French mandate.

→ Main article : Lomé – Blitta railway line

At the end of the German colonial era, there were 327 km of rail in Togo. The operation was carried out with 18 tank locomotives , 20 passenger coaches and 202 freight wagons . Due to the star-shaped network that converged in Lomé, the resources could be used very economically, and the maintenance of the vehicles was centralized there in a main workshop. The operating staff consisted mainly of locals, including the mechanics and stokers , mostly from the Ewe people . The train driver, however, was always a German. The operating language was German . The staff consisted of 768 locals and 26 Europeans.

French colonial times

After the First World War , Togo was divided between Great Britain and France at a ratio of 2: 1. The entire railway network was in that part of the country, now of France as a League of Nations - mandate was managed. During the period of military occupation, which lasted until 1922, the railway operated under the name Togoland Military Railway (TMR). Train operation was in the hands of the neighboring railway of the Gold Coast , the Gold Coast Government Railways . For this reason, rolling stock was primarily procured from the British economic area during this period. It was not until 1922 that the railway received its first French-speaking name: Chemins de fer de Togo (CFT).

Since it was “only” a mandate area whose international legal assignment to France did not appear to be permanently secured, France held back from investing in Togo's railways. The French colonial power only expanded the railway network taken over by the Germans in the 1930s. In 1934 the railway line to Blitta , attached to the Lomé – Atakpamé line, was opened, 113 km long. The further construction to Sokonde , which had already started , was stopped due to lack of money.

Independent Togo

Train from Lomé to Kpalimé at a stop in 1990

Takeover and expansion

In 1946 Togo became a UN mandate. During this time, the CFE procured new locomotives , most recently steam locomotives . However, by 1964 they switched their operation completely to diesel operation . For passenger transport , the old passenger coaches from the German colonial era continued to be in use - at least until the 1970s. In the realm of legends nourished by a multitude of railway and colonial-romantic publications, therefore, belongs the idea that Togo, when it gained independence in 1960, had a functioning railway system from the German colonial era, which has since been ruined. In fact, when Togo became independent , the number of vehicles was outdated. Motor coaches from Renault , de Dietrich and one from Soulé were procured for passenger transport, in response to the competition that arose from road transport. Since the 1960s there have been proposals to abandon the railway altogether.

At Kpémé, a 22-kilometer-long, private meter-gauge line has been connected since 1961, which is used by the SNPT company (today: Compagnie Togolaise des Mines du Bénin (CTMB)) to transport phosphate from the Hahotoe mine north of Lake Togo to a jetty on the coast. It is one of the two sub-networks that are still in operation today.

In 1970 the reception building of the Lomé train station was rebuilt. The warehouse and locomotive halls from the German colonial era, however, have been preserved almost unchanged.

In 1971 the network was expanded for the last time. A line to Tabligbo has been opened east of the Lomé – Blitta railway at Togblékové . There raw material for cement production is or was extracted.

Today's operation

In 1985 the line from Lomé to Aného, east of the junction from the main line, was closed. The Lomé – Kpalimé and main Lomé – Blita lines were closed in 1999 , 19 km north of Lomé, from Togblékové station , including the Agbonou –Atakpamé branch .

Apparently a stretch from Lomé to northern Togo was reactivated.

The route from the port in Lomé via Agbalépédogan and Togblékové to Tabligbo is currently still in operation . It was taken over in 2002 by the West African cement company (WACEM, formerly Cimtogo) and operated by RITES . Only block trains run here . The CTMB train also runs from Kpémé to Hahotoé and from there on a branch line to Kpogamé .

literature

• Franz Baltzer : The colonial railways with a special focus on Africa. Göschen, Berlin et al. 1916 (reprint edition. Reprint-Verlag Leipzig, Holzminden 2007, ISBN 978-3-8262-0233-9 ).
• Jean-Louis Chaléard, Chantal Chanson-Jabeur, Chantal Béranger: Le chemin de fer en Afrique. Éditions Karthala et al., Paris 2006, ISBN 2-84586-643-7 .
• Wolfgang Lauber (Ed.): German Architecture in Togo 1884–1914. A model for ecological building in the tropics. = L'Architecture allemande au Togo 1884–1914. Karl Krämer Verlag, Stuttgart 1993, ISBN 3-7828-4017-8 .
• Helmut Schroeter: The railways of the former German protected areas in Africa and their vehicles. Verkehrswwissenschaftliche Lehrmittelgesellschaft , Frankfurt am Main 1961 ( The vehicles of the German railways 7, ZDB -ID 593887-9 ).
• Helmut Schroeter, Roel Ramaer: The railways in the once German protected areas. East Africa, South West Africa, Cameroon, Togo and the Shantung Railway. Then and now. = German Colonial Railways then and now. Röhr, Krefeld 1993, ISBN 3-88490-184-2 .

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Baltzer, p. 62.
2. ↑ http://www.deutsche-schutzgebiete.de/togoland.htm
3. ↑ Schroeter, p. 51.
4. ↑ Schroeter, p. 51.
5. ↑ Schroeter / Ramaer, p. 109.
6. ↑ Schroeter, p. 52.
7. ↑ DEVELOPMENT AID / AFRICA: With the watering can . In: Der Spiegel . No. 49 , 1964 ( online ).
8. ↑ Schroeter / Ramaer, p. 115.
9. ↑ Schroeter / Ramaer, p. 115; Jean-Louis Chaléard, p. 22.
10. ↑ Lauber, p. 50.
11. ↑ According to one source , the railway is said to be still in operation, according to an older source (Schroeter / Ramaer, p. 115) the line is said to have been abandoned and dismantled in the 1970s.
12. ↑ Lauber, p. 124.
13. ↑ http://www.fahrplancenter.com/Togo.html
14. ↑ Archived copy ( memento of the original from June 17, 2012 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. 
15. ↑ http://www.fahrplancenter.com/Togo.html ; an older source is different: Schroeter / Ramaer, p. 115: According to this, the route is said to have been given up and removed in the 1970s.
16. ↑ http://www.fahrplancenter.com/Togo.html