Railroad Forums 

  • Ethiopia-Djibouti rail opens

  • Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.
Discussion about railroad topics everywhere outside of Canada and the United States.

Moderators: Komachi, David Benton

 #1404634  by johnthefireman
 
I think if you read what Kato wrote, he says there were rebel attacks on the line around 1977 and subsequently (ie nearly forty years ago), but it was restored to operational state, and it ceased in 2008 not due to rebel attacks but due to the abysmal state of the line and delays by a European maintenance company. While obviously there are rebel groups operating in some parts of Africa (not least where I work, in South Sudan), I think generalisations about "the all too numerous rebel groups" are inaccurate and don't really help African countries to develop.
 #1404657  by kato
 
The guerilla war in eastern Ethiopia ended around 1981. The meter gauge line was restored to operational state (which doesn't mean it was all repaired) pretty soon but slowly fell into disrepair in the late 90s, possibly partially because government money instead went to finance the war against Eritrea. After that war, around 15 years ago, the government actually wanted to privatize the line.
The EU-sponsored effort which would have turned over operations to a South-African company after some upgrades was a last attempt to save it at that time. When this didn't come to pass, operations on the line ceased pretty quickly since - as the government didn't spend money on it - no one did any maintenance on it any more (first the Addis Abeba - Dire Dawa section since 2007, then the Dire Dawa - Djibouti section from 2010).
 #1404669  by george matthews
 
So will the government pay for maintenance of the new line? All over Africa the problem is maintenance, lack of which causes numerous potentially valuable projects to fail. I remember several of these in Nigeria. Of course the worst maintenance is probably in Congo.
Last edited by george matthews on Thu Oct 13, 2016 6:34 am, edited 1 time in total.
 #1404777  by george matthews
 
David Benton wrote:Where does it cross a border?
It's the border with Djibouti, formerly a French colony, French Somaliland. I am not sure what are the real state of relations between Ethiopia and Djibouti. Their relations with Somalis in actual Somalia are historically bad. That is an important aspect of the rail policy.
 #1404935  by johnthefireman
 
According to this site, it's 48th out of 57 (funny, I thought there were only 54 countries in Africa, but I'm not sure whether they are including some non-state territories or whatever). Apparently Swaziland, The Gambia, Cape Verde, Comoros, Mauritius, Sao Tome and Principe, Seychelles, Saint Helena Ascension and Tristan da Cunha, and French Southern and Antarctic Lands. I definitely wouldn't have thought of including those last two in Africa.
 #1404939  by philipmartin
 
johnthefireman wrote:Antarctic Lands. I definitely wouldn't have thought of including those last two in Africa.
Antarctic Lands sounds a bit chilly for Africa. :wink:
 #1404955  by johnthefireman
 
Interesting. I had always thought that DRC was bigger than Algeria, but obviously I'm wrong. Of course up until 2011 when it divided into two countries, Sudan was the biggest country in Africa - I can't remember how many public talks on Sudan I have begun by noting that fact!
Last edited by johnthefireman on Fri Oct 14, 2016 12:27 pm, edited 2 times in total.
 #1405029  by george matthews
 
johnthefireman wrote:Interesting. I had always thought that DRC was bigger than Algeria, but obviously I'm wrong. Of course up until 2011 when it divided into two countries, Sudan was the biggest country in Africa - I can't remember how many public talks on Sudan I have begun by noting that fact!
DRC has more people than Algeria, most of which is desert and therefore very lightly populated. It has a large area but not many people.

It's interesting that the Ethiopian line has left hand running. I wonder whether that is also the rule in China?
 #1405087  by philipmartin
 
george matthews wrote: It's interesting that the Ethiopian line has left hand running. I wonder whether that is also the rule in China?
Italy occupied Ethiopia from 1936 to 41. Italy runs left handed, so Iwonder if that's the reason. Or might their be British influence somehow? Britain runs left handed too, I believe.