History Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway

1 history

1.1 decline of old metre-gauge railway
1.2 railway construction (2011–2017)
1.3 trial service phase (2016–2017)

history
decline of old metre-gauge railway

the railway replaces abandoned ethio-djibouti railway, metre-gauge railway built french between 1894 , 1917, had deficiencies of colonial-era railway, steep gradients , tight curves. old railway considered 1 of dangerous railways in world. 1 of 10 worst railway accidents in history happened close awash, 4 overcrowded coaches derailed on river bridge , plunged darkness. ethio–djibouti railway deteriorated lack of spare parts , maintenance, addis ababa lost railroad access sea in 1980s. beginning of 21 century, irregular rail service still running time time between dire dawa , djibouti city. operation silently ceased between 2008 , 2011.

railway construction (2011–2017)

at time, ethiopia initiated ambitious growth , transformation plan (gtp) foresaw lot of investments infrastructure of ethiopia allow speedy economic development. 1 of key elements of gtp heavy investment transportation infrastructure, in particular railroads. in 2011, ethiopian railway corporation (erc) awarded contracts 2 chinese state-owned companies construction of new , electrified standard gauge railway addis ababa djibouti border. railway expected reduce cargo transit times 3 days road twelve hours train , reduce cargo transport costs third compared transport road. new line built 2 chinese state-owned enterprises, china railway group (crec) , china civil engineering construction corporation (crcc).

the 320 kilometres (200 mi) stretch sebeta mieso awarded crec, , 339 kilometres (211 mi) section mieso djibouti border awarded crcc. in 2012, djibouti selected crcc complete final 100 km port of djibouti. total costs of railway amounted us$1.873 billion sebeta-mieso section, us$1.12 billion mieso–dewele section , us$525 million dewele–port of doraleh section.

in 2013, loans totalling us$3 billion secured exim bank of china, us$2.4 billion going ethiopian section of railway , balance spent in djibouti. additional funding secured china development bank , industrial , commercial bank of china. 20,000 ethiopians , 5,000 djiboutians hired construction work. track-laying completed on mieso–djibouti segment of project in june 2015.

in 2015, farmers in ethiopia had suffered crop failures of between 50% , 90% due catastrophic drought, , port of djibouti backed ships waiting unload grain hungry ethiopians. although construction still in progress on sections, completed portion of railway put emergency operation in november 2015 carry grain drought-stricken ethiopia.

the officially completed ethiopian section formally inaugurated on 5 october 2016 in new furi-labu railway station in addis ababa, presidents of ethiopia , djibouti. on 10 january 2017, 100 km section of djibouti side inaugurated in ceremony held in new nagad railway station of djibouti city djibouti s president ismail omar guelleh , ethiopia’s prime minister hailemariam dessalegn, , director general of international union of railways (uic), jean-pierre loubinoux.

the 2 prime contractors, crec , crcc have formed consortium operate entire railway first 3–5 years, while local personnel trained.

a survey , benchmarking among east african governments in 2017 revealed, actual costs of railway indeed around $5.2m per km of railway, around 30% more planned, resulting in total costs of around $4.5b. despite being inaugurated in october 2016 , january 2017, djiboutian authorities still consider railway under construction , expect become operational not before end of 2017.

trial service phase (2016–2017)

an official trial service began on railway after inauguration in october 2016. @ time, railway still not operational. due issues electric service in particular in section between mieso , dembele, trains had use both electrical , diesel locomotives able move forward. on 9 may 2017 possible perform first thorough stress test more 30 trains on line @ same time. passenger trains ran between furi-labu , dire dawa, while freight services started in both directions between port of doraleh , modjo dry port near mojo railway station. first test failed, attributed electrical supply shortages between urban , rural areas along line.