Africa and the Middle East
TRACKING THE GAUGES
- GAUGING THE TRACKS
The Story of the World’s Railway Gauges, Yesterday and Today
Part 3 – Africa and the Middle East
By
Michael Frewston
© Copyright Frewston Books Online 2016
CONTENTS
PART 3 – AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
NORTH AFRICA:
MOROCCO:
ALGERIA:
TUNISIA:
LIBYA:
EGYPT:
MAURITANIA, WESTERN SAHARA:
MALI, SENEGAL:
WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES ON 10°N LATITUDE:
NIGERIA, NIGER, CHAD:
SUDAN:
ERITREA:
ETHIOPIA, DJIBOUTI, SOMALIA:
CENTRAL AFRICA:
CAMEROON:
CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC:
GABON:
REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE):
DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (KINSHASA):
UGANDA, KENYA, TANZANIA, BURUNDI, RWANDA:
SOUTHERN AFRICA:
ANGOLA:
ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE:
MOZAMBIQUE:
MALAWI:
BOTSWANA:
NAMIBIA:
SOUTH AFRICA, LESOTHO, SWAZILAND:
MADAGASCAR:
MIDDLE EAST:
TURKEY:
SYRIA, LEBANON:
ISRAEL, JORDAN:
IRAQ:
SAUDI ARABIA:
YEMEN, OMAN, BAHRAIN:
UNITED ARAB EMIRATES, QATAR, KUWAIT:
IRAN:
ON TO PART 4…
PART 3 – AFRICA AND THE MIDDLE EAST
Having left Europe on our odyssey, is it best to continue east by-passing the Middle East and into ‘1520 territory’, or go south through Africa and the Middle East, and come back to Russia and its associated countries later? I have decided to take the Africa/Middle East route first.
Africa is a huge continent, with over 50 countries, not all with a railway system. Accordingly, I have split it into North, Central and Southern, not only for editorial reasons, but because there are so many gauges in this continent, and it is easier to keep track of them this way! Almost all of these gauges (over 85% of route distance in Africa as a whole) are narrower than Standard gauge, and Africa has very few countries where 1435 mm Standard gauge is the norm.
The Middle East is also an area where not only are there a number of gauges to be found, but some countries are somewhat bereft of railways altogether, often as a result from political tensions in what is a troubled part of the world.
I have chosen a quite arbitrary division between the Middle East (here in Part 3) and what was once the USSR (in Part 4), as well as the Indian sub-continent (in Part 5), both parts of the world with which Iran (a country that can be said to be the bridge between all three areas) shares a border. Turkey also shares a border with the CIS. All these borders result in a break of gauge, and to me represent logical places to mark the geographical divisions.
Accordingly, I have included both Turkey and Iran as part of the Middle East, and not part of ‘Area 1520’ or, in Iran’s case, with Pakistan, as both Turkey’s and Iran’s railway links are strongest in a westerly direction, as we shall see later.
NORTH AFRICA:
As can be seen from the map above, North Africa has a huge variety of gauges, with few neighbouring countries sharing the same gauge(s). Consequently, it will be many years hence (if ever) before it is possible to travel by train in this part of the world without having to encounter breaks of gauge at almost every border (assuming cross-border travel is even possible – in many cases it is not, usually for political reasons, regardless of any compatibility between railway systems).
In the very northern-most countries of North Africa, while there is some variety of gauges, the French did have dreams of building a trans-Sahara railway, to a uniform metre-gauge. Those plans got as far as Tozeur, in Tunisia, but then went no further.
MOROCCO:
If you like narrow gauge railways, then Morocco was the place to be in the early years of the 20th century. The entire country, from the first line built in 1887 for the Sultan, to well into the 1930s, was built to mostly 600 mm (Decauville) gauge, with an astonishing total of 1700 km laid during those years. There were also some 500 mm gauge lines, mostly around Marrakech.
In fact, there was an agreement (the Treaty of Algeciras) to not build any Standard gauge lines until after the main line from Tangiers, on the north coast, to Fez, some 200 km or so to the south as the crow flies, was complete. This line, planned to be complete by 1915, was delayed by World War I, and wasn’t finished until 1923. This was followed by the Standard gauge line from Mechra Ben Abbou to Marrakech, opened in 1928, which ran parallel to the existing 500 mm gauge line. The complete Standard gauge connection between Marrakech in the west and the Tunisian border in the east was finished in 1934.
But the 600 mm gauge lines didn’t last too long, once Standard gauge railways started to be built, and they were being closed almost as often as they were being opened, with most closed by the outbreak of World War II. It wasn’t until well into the second half of the 20th century that Morocco’s railway system started to be restored.
Not all lines in Morocco were to 600 mm gauge. In what was Spanish Morocco, on the north coast, there were a number of 1000 mm and 750 mm gauge lines, as well as 600 mm. Again, most if not all are now closed.
Main-line railways:
Today, all of Morocco’s railways are to Standard gauge, with much of it electrified. A high speed line is under construction from Tangiers to Marrakech via Casablanca and Rabat (see map following). The new high speed trains (the first in Africa) will be based on French TGVs and a target speed of 350 km/h has been mooted, although there is doubt that funds will be available to carve out the route that is necessary to achieve that speed.
There are no links to adjacent countries – that with Algeria (which was a freight-only line anyway, albeit to the same Standard gauge) was closed in 1976, Algeria and Morocco not seeing entirely eye-to-eye on their border relations. A tunnel to Spain from Tangiers is planned (see Spain and Portugal, in Part 2), but that is some years into the future.
Metro and trams:
Two systems exist in Morocco. The capital, Rabat, has a Standard gauge tram system (Rabat to Salé), very recently opened, and 19 km in length. It is as much a light rail system as tram. An even larger system, 31 km in length, was opened in Casablanca in 2014, also to Standard gauge.
There are no true metro systems in Morocco.
ALGERIA:
Main-line railways:
Like many countries in North Africa, Algeria’s railways are but a shadow of what they once were. Before World War II, Algeria had over 5000 km of main lines, around two thirds of which were Standard gauge, the remaining one third being mostly to the unusual gauge of 1055 mm, but also with a few lines in the high plateau areas being built to metre-gauge.
Quite where the unusual gauge of 1055 mm came from is not known for sure. Was this perhaps one of those errors we have seen before? History shows that it was possibly meant to be 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in – a well-established gauge in other parts of North Africa by this time), but someone, perhaps unfamiliar with Imperial measurements, rounded the numbers slightly. Less likely, it was perhaps meant to be 1050 mm (another unusual gauge, but found in Syria, Jordan and Lebanon, which, like Algeria, are all Arab countries), and a 5 mm error was made somewhere. Maybe it was meant to be 1000 mm metre-gauge, found elsewhere in Algeria, as well as neighbouring Tunisia, but again someone mis-read their tape measure? Unless new information comes to light, it is something we’ll never know!
Certainly Algeria’s railways didn’t start out using these narrow gauges – the first line was opened in 1862 between Algiers and Blida, a distance of 28 km, and was to 1435 mm Standard gauge. But then the French Colonial government of the day took over the building of new railways, and implemented an extensive network of narrow gauge railways to supplement the Standard gauge ones. The fact that the French government were involved would indicate that this railway was perhaps meant to be metre-gauge, in line with all other colonial railways built by the French (such as in Vietnam).
Today, Algeria boasts around 3000 km of Standard gauge railways, of which almost 300 km are electrified. A further 400 km is to be electrified over the next few years. Most of the trains and other railway infrastructure are French-built.
Out of the original 2000 km of narrow gauge lines, approximately 1100 km are still operational, being mostly 1055 mm gauge, augmented by a small amount of 1000 mm gauge. New Standard gauge lines are planned, in particular the 1200-km long High Plateau east-west line, which would parallel the existing coastal line, and allow 160 km/h running.
Metro and trams:
Algiers has both a tram and a metro (as well as a French-style RER), all recently opened and to Standard gauge. New tram systems in Oran and Constantine are now operative. Both, like in Algiers, are to Standard gauge.
TUNISIA:
Main-line railways:
Railways didn’t reach Tunisia until the 1870s, with the opening of the Standard gauge line between Tunis and La Marsa, in August 1872. This is now a proper light railway. Further Standard gauge lines were built between then and 1922, by various entities.
But like Algeria, it was the narrow gauge lines that predominated in the later years of railway development. Tunisia however built all its lines to a true 1000 mm gauge, starting in 1885, with the last metre-gauge line (the link off the Tunis to Sousse line to Cap Bon) being completed in 1940.
Today, Tunisia has approximately 500 km of Standard gauge main line, concentrated in the north, with three new routes planned (including a proposed link with Libya). However, as with Morocco, there is no border train crossing with neighbouring Algeria.
There are still 1700 km of metre-gauge lines in operation, of which 8 km are dual gauge, and 65 km are electrified. These metre-gauge lines were built by the French to carry mined phosphates from the Sahara to northern ports.
There are bogie changing stations at a number of points between Standard gauge and metre-gauge. Not only do coaches and freight vehicles have their gauge changed, but even some locomotives are capable of switching between the two gauges.
Metre-gauge lines are still very much a part of southern Tunisia’s railway infrastructure. It is interesting to note that one of these lines at one time held the world speed record achieved on 1000 mm gauge – a very creditable 130 km/h.
Metro and trams:
Tunis has a light rail system, the only one in Africa, and built to 1435 mm Standard gauge. It is a mix of some street running, its own private right of way and underground sections.
LIBYA:
Libya currently has no railway system, although a Standard gauge line is under construction. Being built by the Chinese, work on it appears to be somewhat intermittent, and it is not expected to be complete until at least 2016 – in fact it has been suspended since 2013. Libya is of course in a state of internal civil war.
In the past, the Italians helped Libya build some narrow gauge railways starting just before World War I – and ‘exported’ their weird 950 mm Italian gauge (1000 mm measured to the rail head centrelines) in the process. There were about 400 km of 950 mm gauge railways, centred on Tripoli, plus some 750 mm (later converted to 950 mm gauge) lines. All had closed by 1965.
EGYPT:
Apart from some 600 mm gauge sugar cane lines, and the 1067 mm line from Luxor to Aswan in the south (later converted to Standard gauge), Egypt has only ever had a 1435 mm Stephenson gauge railway system. But then that is to be expected, as Robert Stephenson himself was the engineer for Egypt’s first railway line, which was opened in 1854 between Alexandria and Cairo.
From that point on, Standard gauge lines continually expanded, especially in the Nile Delta region, with Cairo as the focus. By 1873, a key network was in place.
After some management issues, in 1883 Frederick Trevithick – nephew of the son of Richard Trevithick – was brought in to help get the system properly operational again. Naturally, there was never any question that any gauge other than Standard would be used.
Today, Egypt has about 5000 km (perhaps less, depending on which source is to be believed) of Standard gauge lines, mostly in the Nile Delta, but with little electrification other than some Cairo commuter lines. There are some 610 mm gauge sugar cane railways.
Metro and trams:
Cairo has a quite new and modern Standard gauge metro, consisting of two lines. Out in Cairo’s suburbs, in Heliopolis, there is a metre-gauge tram system, that is somewhat old and a little on the dilapidated side.
The city of Alexandria has two systems. The ‘blue train’ metro system consists of tram/light rail vehicles, some of them double-deckers (possibly the only ones in the world besides Blackpool and Hong Kong?), running mostly on separate rights-of-way. Sometimes these rights-of-way are parallel with the road. Current collection is by pantograph.
The yellow trams (together with some yellow and red trams) are street running lines, with current collection by trolley pole (the yellow and red trams use both pole and pantograph depending on which of its sections they’re on). Both the metro and the trams are to 1435 mm Standard gauge.
In the town of Helwan, 25 km south of Cairo, the 1000 mm gauge system there is utterly dilapidated, to the point that the system is barely functioning – some reports say that it has stopped altogether, others that it is intermittent at best.
MAURITANIA, WESTERN SAHARA:
A single 1435 mm Standard gauge line operates in these two territories, opened in 1963, with a route length of over 700 km. It is primarily a freight line, with some of the world’s longest and heaviest trains, carrying iron ore (informally named as ‘The Iron Ore Express’), and traversing tracks all but buried in sand through desolate and bleak desert.
MALI, SENEGAL:
Like Mauritania and Western Sahara, Mali and Senegal can boast but one railway line between them, over 1300 km long, running between Dakar in Senegal via Bamako in Mali to the border with Niger.
This railway however is to 1000 mm metre-gauge. The only international railway link is between the two countries, with no outside link with the other seven countries they share a border with, even though two countries – Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina – also have 1000 mm gauge railways.
WEST AFRICAN COUNTRIES ON 10°N LATITUDE:
I have combined a number of countries here, in order to not only reduce the tedium of essentially repeating the same details over and over, but also because over 100 years ago the French started building an interconnected railway network that would have linked Abidjan (Cote d’Ivoire), Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso), Niamey (in Niger), Cotonou (Benin), and Lomé (Togo). This was to have been the West African Rail Loop, around 2800 km long. While the section from Abidjan to Cotonou did get built, the Loop remained uncompleted.
Besides the countries noted above, other countries in this region comprise Guinea-Bissau, Guinea, Sierra Leone, and Liberia (I will treat Nigeria, Niger and Chad separately). All these countries are typified by being very poor, with an undeveloped infrastructure, including their railways, although all are slated to participate in over 3000 km of new railway construction in the next decade or so.
ECOWAS (Economic Community of West African States) recognises the difficulty in dealing with the three predominant gauges in this part of the world (1000, 1067 and 1435 mm – see map at the beginning of this Part), and how these gauge differences can be resolved to better co-ordinate these railway systems.
Accordingly, any new railways planned to join up all countries in ECOWAS’s sphere of inf
luence must somehow address the current gauge differences. As noted for Nigeria (see below), the long-term goal is to convert everything to Standard gauge, but the likelihood of this happening anytime soon (or even at all) is very remote. Otherwise the problem of three different gauges remains.
Guinea (there are no railways in Guinea-Bissau) has a mix of 1000 mm metre-gauge (800 km) and 1435 mm Standard gauge (300 km). Most of these railways are essentially privately owned mining lines, many of which have fallen into disuse. Plans are underway to build new lines and refurbish the existing.
Sierra Leone has essentially two railways – a 1067 mm gauge short railway of just 85 km, and a longer system of 762 mm gauge, once government owned. The 1067 mm gauge railway is privately operated, and freight-only. The 762 mm gauge railway was closed in 1974. There are plans to re-open and convert this to Standard gauge, but nothing has happened as yet.
Liberia also has two main remaining railway lines, also of 1067 mm gauge, and freight-only, branching out from the port of Monrovia. There is also a quite separate 1435 mm gauge railway 250 km long, recently re-opened by a major steel company, that carries iron ore from the north south-west to the port of Buchanan.
Metre-gauge railways can be found in Côte d’Ivoire, Togo and Burkina Faso, while in neighbouring Ghana the railway system there is to 1067 mm gauge. Thus Ghana with its 1067 mm gauge splits the 1000 mm gauge railways found on either side of it – Côte d’Ivoire to the west and Togo and Benin on the east.
Togo’s metre-gauge system consists of two lines radiating out from Lomé – although reports suggest that the system has been defunct for some years. Plans have been mooted in all these countries for new Standard gauge lines to move iron ore and other minerals to the coastal ports.