Start of Ethiopia-Djibouti railways rehabilitation

[John Ashworth]

Start of Ethiopia-Djibouti railways rehabilitation
Monday 1 September 2008.

August 31, 2008 (ADDIS ABABA) — The rehabilitation of a vital railways
line linking the landlocked Ethiopia with the Red Sea through Djibouti has
begun this week in order to improve of the rail track.

The Ethio-Djibouti Railways is the successor of the Imperial Railway
Company of Ethiopia and jointly owned by the governments of Ethiopia and
Djibouti which received the French shares after its independence in 1977.

The single 781 km railway has a 1,000 mm gauge, most of it on Ethiopian
territory and about 100 km in Djibouti.

The project aims at improving the cargo capacity of the rail track to 17
tones, which stands at 14 tones. Upon completion, the project will boost
the national trade volume significantly.

It also includes, among others, replacing the 114-Km rail track,
maintenance of 40 bridges, and changing nine others along the route.

The enterprise imported from Italy 40-km rail track weighing some 6,000
tones from Italy for the project which is expected to be finalized and go
operational next year.

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