Tunisia: high-speed line

[John Ashworth]

TUNISIAN HIGH-SPEED LINE

Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor

Tunisia is planning to invest $US5.5 billion over the next decade in the development of a high-speed rail link with Morocco, Algeria and Libya. Despite having a rail network covering more than 2,100km, operational efficiency is hampered by gauge differences and limited electrification.

Less than 10% of the country’s freight is carried on rail, a situation that could change radically if the envisaged “Trans-Maghreb” high-speed railway is built to link Casablanca with Tripoli in Libya, via Algiers and Tunisia. The project would see Tunisia build 780km of high-speed track, as well as related support infrastructure.

However, at a summit meeting hosted by Tunisia’s transport ministry to discuss the “Trans-Maghreb” – which brought together the country’s shippers union and representatives of state railway utilities in Algeria, Libya, Morocco, Mauritania and Tunisia – no time-frame was drawn up for construction.