Africa and the Middle East Read online

  Finally, Benin possesses almost 600 km of metre-gauge railway in a single line, recently upgraded, and with proposed connections with Niger to the north-east (see Niger below).

  NIGERIA, NIGER, CHAD:

  Nigeria’s railways started out in 1901, when Sir George McGregor built a 1067 mm gauge railway line from Lagos to Abeokuta. The success of this venture led to many more 1067 mm railways being built, as well as some 762 mm tramway lines, one of which (the Bauchi Light Railway) later got converted to 1067 mm gauge.

  Today, Nigeria’s railways, like so many in this part of the world, are suffering from neglect and lack of investment. Nonetheless, the country currently can lay claim to 3500 km of 1067 mm gauge and 330 km of 1435 mm gauge lines (of which 19 km are dual gauge). New lines, both Standard gauge (High Speed) and narrow gauge, are proposed, as well as a long term proposal to convert the entire system to Standard gauge, although doubts remain that that will actually occur.

  The countries of Niger and Chad, north and north-east of Nigeria respectively, are very poor, and until just recently had no railways at all. However, as will be seen elsewhere in Africa, China has made inroads into investing heavily in African infrastructure, and land-locked Niger is no exception (Chad is still railway-free).

  A new railway between Niamey, in the extreme south-west of the country, and the port of Cotonou, in neighbouring Benin, some 1050 km long, is in the final stages of construction, being built by French company Balloré, opened in late 2015 (the 435 km from Cotonou to Parakou, within Benin, was operational a couple of years ealier – see Benin above).

  Further rail routes are planned from Niamey through Burkino Faso (via Ouagadougou) to Abidjan, in Côte d-Ivoire and to Lomé in Togo. All four countries have railways primarily to 1000 mm gauge, and the new railways also are (or will be) to that gauge. Ghana, sandwiched between Togo (adjacent to Benin) and Côte d-Ivoire, will miss out on these new lines from Niamey, at least initially, as its railways are to 1067 mm gauge.

  Metro and trams:

  Lagos is reportedly the sixth largest city in the world, and is certainly the largest in Africa by far, yet it has no proper rail-based mass transit system.

  After an abortive underground proposal fell by the wayside, a multi-line light rail system is understood to be under construction in Lagos (or was – ground-breaking reportedly took place in 2007, but it is known that no rail transit system exists currently – in fact, it looks to be more of a bus-way than a rail-based system). If the proposed Metro does go ahead, it is known it will be to Standard gauge, but little other information on its status is available.

  SUDAN:

  Sudan got its first railway in the 1870s. Built to 1067 mm gauge, it was abandoned in 1905 as being uneconomic.

  But it wasn’t too many years before Sudan got its next railway. Built under the military supervision of General Kitchener, it too was to 1067 mm gauge – so, it is said, that Kitchener could re-use the rolling stock from the first railway.

  Today, Sudan has about 4600 km of 1067 mm gauge lines, along with 720 km of 610 mm gauge lines.

  ERITREA:

  Although there may be some evidence that the British originally built the first railway in this country (for the Abyssinia Campaign), it was the Italians that really took on the business of providing Eritrea (once an Italian colony) with a railway system in what is very difficult mountainous country, with a peak altitude of 2400 m and many 3.5% gradients.

  And of course, the Italians had their own weird idea on how to measure railway gauges (see Italy, Part 2). Consequently, the Eritrean railway system was built to the Italian metre-gauge, or 950 mm actual gauge, making it incompatible with any other railway.

  The system expanded until the 1960s, but as the war with Ethiopia escalated, so did the railway lines get ever more sabotaged or simply dismantled. The last line then closed, in 1976.

  Today the network is slowly being re-instated, albeit with only a single line, and the current system, still (it is understood) to 950 mm gauge, was opened in 2003. Some of the steam shunting (switching) locomotives used in the country were inherited from Sudan. They were re-gauged from Sudan’s 1067 mm gauge to 950 mm by moving the wheels from outside to inside the locomotive frames. Many steam locomotives (including a number of articulated Mallets, needed for the sharp curves necessary is such mountainous country) are still in working order. Other vehicles also survived from the previous system.

  ETHIOPIA, DJIBOUTI, SOMALIA:

  A single rail line runs between Addis Ababa in Ethiopia and Djibouti, capital of the country of the same name. This line is around 900 km long, and is to 1000 mm gauge.

  Plans are under way (and possibly construction may have started) in respect of a new 5000 km network of 1435 mm Standard gauge railways, with Chinese, Russian and Indian interests providing finance and management. Ethiopia acknowledged that continuing with the metre-gauge did not make sense. As if to reinforce its commitment to Standard gauge (as well as the Chinese investment), Addis Ababa has just opened a new 1435 mm gauge light rail system, running mostly on its own right-of-way.

  Somalia today has no railways. It used to have a single line (built with the help of the Italians, so we can guess what gauge that was to!), but it closed in the 1940s.

  CENTRAL AFRICA:

  Like North Africa, Central Africa is characterised by low standards of living, extensive poverty, internal war and strife, and poor infrastructure. Railways, sparse at best, are again almost always to narrow gauge, with the most common gauges being 1000 mm or 1067 mm gauge. And of course these gauge differences are usually between neighbouring countries, thus preventing through running.

  But that small gauge does not mean miniature trains. Most of the trains running on these narrow gauges are essentially the same full sized ones found on Standard gauge, just re-gauged. In particular, the diesel locomotives are often powerful General Motors units found throughout North America and other parts of the world.

  One thing to be noticed about Central Africa in particular (and Africa in general), and that is the lack of metros, trams and other city or commuter rail-based systems. This reflects the general lack of urbanisation in most of these countries, something that will likely not change very soon.

  CAMEROON:

  Another country with essentially just one main line, Cameroon’s 1000-km long railway is to metre-gauge, extending from Kumba in the south through Yaoundé to Ngaoundérê in the north. It carries both passengers and freight. The section between Yaoundé and Douala is the busiest.

  There is also a network of plantation railways. The gauge of these is not known, but it is likely to be 600 mm.

  A Standard gauge line is planned to transport iron ore, possibly built by the South Koreans.

  CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC:

  There are no railways in the Central African Republic, although one has been proposed for some time now – like other African countries, there is a lot of doubt that it will get built anytime soon, if ever. A 600-mm gauge short railway once ran, all of 7.5 km long. It closed in 1960.

  GABON:

  The Trans-Gabon Railway, the only line in Gabon, must have the longest gestation period between planning and completion – 102 years! But it did eventually open, in 1987, after being originally talked about in 1885.

  Because construction didn’t start until 1973, the availability of modern earth-moving equipment meant that it could be built as cheaply to Standard gauge as to a narrow gauge. Consequently, this 800-km long 1435 mm gauge line boasts a relatively high level of both trackwork and rolling stock.

  REPUBLIC OF CONGO (BRAZZAVILLE):

  The Republic of Congo represents the real beginning of the extent of railways built in Africa to so-called Cape-gauge – 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in). In the case of the Congo, there are two lines, one running from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville (the Congo-Ocean Railway), a distance of some 500 km, and the other branching off that to Mbinda, a distance of nearly 300 km.

  The civil war in 1997 meant that these
lines remained shut and unused for ten years. There are conflicting reports as to their current status – the best report is probably that from the BBC in 2007, which states that the lines are ‘decrepit’ and most parts ‘broken’. Nonetheless, a major accident in 2010, in which over 60 people died, shows that the trains were still running, but obviously in need of significant upgrading.

  DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO (KINSHASA):

  We are now well into Cape-gauge territory, and the D.R. Congo has an extensive system, much (but not all) to 1067 mm Cape gauge.

  A network of railways was well developed up until 1998, comprising at least six lines. Five were constructed to Cape-gauge, and one to 1000 mm metre-gauge (Great Lakes line from Kisangani to Ubundu).

  Civil war broke out in this country in 1998, and most railways were shut down, until around 2004. Since then, the system has been brought back into use. However, as travel in the D.R. Congo is considered to be dangerous and ill-advisable, the current status of the railways there is uncertain.

  Certainly, it is known that there has been a considerable amount of refurbishment. It would appear that the country currently possesses approximately 3700 km of 1067 mm gauge lines, of which over 800 km are electrified. There is also a further 1000 km of 600 mm gauge lines.

  UGANDA, KENYA, TANZANIA, BURUNDI, RWANDA:

  In spite of the fact that the first three countries were British protectorates during their railway-building years, they break the ‘norm’ of the British-inspired Cape-gauge in central and southern Africa by reason of the fact that their railways are built to 1000 mm metre-gauge.

  It is said that the reason for choosing metre-gauge – rather than the more prevalent 1067 mm gauge – was the easy availability of materials from India (these railways were built using huge numbers of slave Sikh labour). While the use of Indian labour is a known fact, the availability of materials (sleepers, rolling stock?) is neither confirmed, nor is that a particularly persuasive reason for breaking gauges with the rest of the developed railways in Africa at this point in time.

  All three countries – Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania – were partners in the former East Africa Railways Corporation. That organisation was dissolved in 1977, and all three countries now administer their own railways independently. That has meant that what was once an almost seamless three-country single railway network now involves abandoned links to borders, long detours and physical changes of trains between the three countries.

  The first line between Uganda and Kenya was opened in 1903, built by the British East Africa Company. Various extensions and branch lines were built during the first three decades of the 20th century, and the system extended to a total of nearly 1000 km.

  But like too many other African nations, civil war and poor management have between them decimated what was once a viable railway system. In Uganda today only a small proportion – about 200 km – of the old system is currently operating, most of which is the main line from Kampala to the border with Kenya, where it supposedly meets up with Kenya’s 1000 mm gauge network.

  Kenya’s system has also suffered from both neglect and civil war. Today there are around 1000 km – barely one third of the original network – comprising the single line from Mombasa via Nairobi to Kisimu on Lake Victoria. If the railways in Kenya ever receive some renewal, the whole may be converted to Standard gauge.

  There are – or at least, were – ferries that transport trains across Lake Victoria to Tanzania’s 1000 mm gauge railways. After an accident a few years ago between two ferries, resulting in the sinking of one of the boats, the service seems to be currently sporadic.

  Tanzania’s system consists of two main lines, together with a number of links and branches, with a total route length of over 2600 km. There are proposals to convert Tanzania’s railways to Standard gauge – or would that perhaps be to Cape-gauge, or even keep the system to metre-gauge? It is hard to judge what is exactly happening – reportedly tenders have been received for steel sleepers capable of either 1000 mm or 1067 mm gauge (but not, as far as is known, Standard gauge).

  Yet a tender has also been sought for a factory to manufacture dual gauge (1435 mm and 1000 mm) concrete sleepers. Certainly the official government line is to convert Tanzania’s railways to 1435 mm Standard gauge. For now though metre-gauge rules.

  Finally, Burundi and Rwanda, which currently have no railways, are earmarked for a new 700 km long line to provide connections with their neighbours. The problem is that while Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania on three sides use metre-gauge, the D.R. Congo on the fourth uses Cape-gauge. No decision made!

  SOUTHERN AFRICA:

  Southern Africa did not start getting its railways until late in the 19th century, and certainly it wasn’t until well into the 20th century that the continent had what could be called a reasonably developed network of lines that enabled the relatively seamless shipment of both freight and passengers between and within countries.

  We are now in the heart of Cape-gauge territory – 1067 mm (3 ft 6 in), and considered to be named after the southern tip of this continent, the Cape of Good Hope. (Another theory for the origin of this name suggests that it is a corruption of the initials of Carl Abraham Pihl, a Norwegian working in Africa and Australia, but the evidence for this is rather flimsy, and I believe that the name Cape indeed does originate from its geographical location.)

  All the countries on the map above (except Madagascar) use that gauge for their main-line railways, either exclusively or at least primarily. It is technically – even if not politically – possible to travel by 1067 mm gauge train from Cape Town at the southern tip of South Africa through Zimbabwe and Zambia to Liebo in the centre of the D.R Congo – a total distance of some 3500 km. All these railways were planned as part of Cecil Rhodes’s dream of a Cape-to-Cairo railway – something that never happened, but which represented one of the largest railway projects in the world in its day.

  Notwithstanding the use of what is still quite a small gauge, compared with Standard gauge – 368 mm, or 25%, narrower – the only real concession to the smaller gauge is the much lower speeds that are achievable. In terms of the sizes of trains being used, only North America, China and Australia, on a routine basis, have trains that are heavier and longer, or have larger loading gauges. Cape-gauge locomotives are to be found that are physically larger and more powerful than their Standard gauge counterparts.

  ANGOLA:

  Our first country in Southern Africa didn’t actually start out using Cape-gauge. Angola’s first railways, when the country was under Portuguese rule, were built using 600 mm gauge.

  The Moçâmedes Railway, the second line to be built in Angola, opened in 1910, and was built to this same 600 mm gauge – yet it was over 900 km long, a huge distance for such a very small gauge! It was converted to 1067 mm gauge in the 1950s. Today, reflecting the devastation caused by the past civil wars in this country, only around 500 km, belonging to the Moçâmedes Railway, is operational.

  Two other railways exist in Angola. The Luanda to Melange Railway – the first to be built – is over 480 km long, including branches, and was always built to 1067 mm gauge. The line was all but destroyed during Angola’s civil war, but is more or less reinstated and recently re-opened.

  The third and final railway in Angola is the 1350-km long Bengeula Railway, which runs to the border of the D.R. Congo. Again, it is to Cape-gauge, and once did physically connect with the Congo’s railways. Today it is estimated that only about 400 km remains in operation.

  ZAMBIA AND ZIMBABWE:

  I am treating these two countries together, as their railways were at one time run as one integrated system when the two countries were called Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia respectively. These railways also are not only connected to each other (via the famous bridge over the Victoria Falls), but are part of a wider network of Cape-gauge railways that once enabled the seamless shipment of goods and passengers throughout all of Southern Africa, and that formed the southern segment of what w
as going to be the Cape-to-Cairo railway.

  Today, political strains between a number of these nations, but particularly between Zambia and Zimbabwe, now restrict much travel. Both through passenger and freight services across the Victoria Falls bridge, for example, stopped in the mid-1960s, when Rhodesia (formerly Southern Rhodesia – Northern Rhodesia was now independent and renamed as Zambia) proclaimed its Unilateral Declaration of Independence. While freight services resumed in the 1980s, through passenger services remain suspended (there is a twice daily special ferry train across the bridge for passengers).

  Zambia’s railways started out in 1905, when the line from Livingstone to Kalomo was completed, a distance of 150 km. In the same year the Victoria Falls bridge was built.

  The country’s railways are today privately run, with over 900 km of main-line, plus some 300 km of branch lines. A program is underway to upgrade the network. Currently the only international passenger connections consist of the Kilimanjaro Express and the Mukuba Express, running from Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania.

  Zimbabwe’s 3000 km railways tell a somewhat different story, at least in terms of today’s situation. Once a well-maintained part of the Rhodesian railway system, and opened in the 1890s, Zimbabwe’s chronic finances have meant that much of the network in that country has now closed, while that which remains open suffers from neglect and lack of maintenance. The 300 km long stretch between Gweru and Harare is electrified.