Rail transport in Togo began in 1905.
Rail transport in Togo began in 1905.
The basics of the rail network in Togo were laid during the German colonial period. The lines built in the then German Togo (Togoland) served mainly to facilitate the export of agricultural products.
The 44 km (27 mi) long Lomé–Aného railway was the first to be built in Togoland. It went into service in 1905. The 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge used for that line set the standard for future Togo railway construction.
On 27 January 1907, the birthday of Kaiser Wilhelm II, Togo's second railway, the 119 km (74 mi) long line from Lomé to Kpalimé, was opened. [1]
The protectorate's third line, between Lomé and Atakpamé, was constructed from 1908, and completed to its full length of 167 km (104 mi) in 1913. It branched off the Lomé–Kpalimé railway at a point 2.7 km (1.7 mi) from Lomé, and was the only line in Togo to be extended during the subsequent French mandate.
At the end of the German colonial period, Togo had a 327 km (203 mi) long rail network. [2] Its rail vehicle fleet consisted of 18 tank locomotives, 20 passenger coaches and 202 goods wagons. [3]
As the rail network at that time was laid out in the shape of a star focused on Lomé, its assets were able to be used very economically, with vehicle maintenance centralized at Lomé in a main workshop.
The operating personnel, including the mechanics, were mainly indigenous, and were predominantly Ewe people. The train drivers, however, were always German, and the operating language was German. The staff consisted of 768 locals and 26 Europeans. [3]
After World War I, Togo was divided between the United Kingdom and France, in the ratio of 1:2 . The entire rail network was in the part of the territory that was to be administered by France from then onwards, under a League of Nations mandate.
During the post war period of military occupation, which lasted until 1922, the rail network was run under the name Togoland Military Railway (TMR). Train operation was in the hands of the neighboring railway of the Gold Coast, the Gold Coast Government Railways. [4] For that reason, new rolling stock procured at that time was sourced mainly from the British Empire. Only after 1922 did the rail network receive its French language name: Chemins de fer du Togo (CFT).
As Togo was "only" a mandated territory that had not permanently secured its international legal assignment to France, the French colonial authorities held back on making investments in Togolese railways. Only in the 1930s did France resume development of the railway network it had taken over from the Germans. In 1934, the 113 km (70 mi) long extension of the Lomé–Atakpamé railway to Blitta was opened. However, the planned further extension to Sokodé was abandoned due to lack of funds, even though its construction had already begun. [5]
In 1946, Togo became a United Nations Trust Territory. Simultaneously, the CFE procured new locomotives, which were the last steam engines to join the fleet. By 1964, trains on the network were being hauled solely by diesel locomotives. However, the old German colonial era coaches remained in use for passenger operations at least as late as the 1970s.
Togo became independent in 1960. Under the influence of a variety of romantic commentaries about Togo's rail and colonial legends, a perception has developed that the newly independent Togo inherited a functioning rail network from the German colonial period, and that that network has since been ruined. Yet the truth is that at independence the Togolese rail vehicle fleet was obsolete. [6]
The newly independent Togo procured new passenger carrying railcars from Renault and de Dietrich, and a single railcar from Soulé, as a reaction to the existing competition from road transport. Even so, as early as the 1960s there were proposals for the total abandonment of Togo's rail network. [7]
Since 1961, a 22 km (14 mi) long, private metre gauge line has served to link the phosphate mine at Hahotoe north of Lake Togo operated by Compagnie Togolaise des Mines du Bénin (CTMB) until 2007, and by Société Nouvelle des Phosphates du Togo (SNPT) since then, to a jetty on the coast at Kpémé. [7] [8] It is one of the two sub-networks that are still in operation today.
In 1970, the station building at Lomé station was rebuilt. The German colonial era goods and locomotive sheds, however, were left almost unchanged. [9]
The last expansion of the network occurred in 1971, with the opening of a new line to Tabligbo branching in an easterly direction off the Lomé–Blitta railway at Togblékové. According to one source, [10] that branch line is still in operation, but an earlier source [7] claims that the branch was closed and lifted before the end of the 1970s. The branch was constructed to carry raw materials for cement production.
As of about 1980, the railway network in Togo was operated by 20 diesel locomotives, ten railcars, sixty passenger cars and 375 wagons. At that time, approximately 1.5 million passengers and 112,000 long tons (114,000 t) of freight were carried on the network annually. [11]
In 1985, the line from Lomé to Aného was decommissioned east of the junction with the main line. [12] In 1999, the Lomé-Kpalimé line, and the main line from Lomé to Blita, including the Agbonou–Atakpamé branch, were closed from the point 19 km north of Lomé. [10] There have been conflicting reports as to the state of the remaining network since then.
The history of Togo can be traced to archaeological finds which indicate that ancient local tribes were able to produce pottery and process tin. During the period from the 11th century to the 16th century, the Ewé, the Mina, the Gun, and various other tribes entered the region. Most of them settled in coastal areas.. The Portuguese arrived in the late 15th century, followed by other European powers. Until the 19th century, the coastal region was a major slave trade centre, earning Togo and the surrounding region the name "The Slave Coast".
Togoland was a German Empire protectorate in West Africa from 1884 to 1914, encompassing what is now the nation of Togo and most of what is now the Volta Region of Ghana, approximately 77,355 km2 in size. During the period known as the "Scramble for Africa", the colony was established in 1884 and was gradually extended inland.
Kpalimé is a city in the Plateaux Region of Togo, 120 km north of Lomé and 15 km from the border with Ghana. It is the administrative capital of Kloto Prefecture. Kpalimé has a population of 75,084, making it the fourth-biggest town in Togo, after Lomé, Sokodé and Kara. The town has a cathedral, a scientific lycée, and a post-office, as well as several banks, medical centres, pharmacies, cyber-cafés and petrol stations.
Aného, previously known as Anecho is a town in southeastern Togo, lying on the Gulf of Guinea near the border of Benin. Founded in the late 17th century by Ane peoples fleeing from Asante attacks in Elmina, Aného developed as a slave port and commercial centre. It was the capital of German Togoland from 1885 to 1887 and of the French occupation from 1914 to 1920. Aného remains an important intellectual centre for Togo, though it has not grown as rapidly as Togo’s other major cities. Pop. 25,400. It is situated 45 km east of the capital Lomé, between the Atlantic Ocean and Lake Togo in Maritime Region. Historically it was known as Little Popo and it had a Portuguese slave market. The nearby town of Zebe became the second capital of German Togoland in 1887. It gradually declined in importance after the capital was transferred to Lomé in 1897, a decline exacerbated by coastal erosion.
Atakpamé is the fifth largest city in Togo by population, is a city in the Plateaux Region of Togo. It is an industrial centre and lies on the main north-south highway, 161 km north of the capital Lomé. It is also a regional commercial centre for produce and cloth.
The Togolese Football Federation or FTF is the governing body of football in Togo. In 2006, the Togo national football team participated for first time in the 2006 World Cup in Germany.
French Togoland was a French colonial League of Nations mandate from 1916 to 1960 in French West Africa. In 1960 it became the independent Togolese Republic, and the present day nation of Togo.
Railway stations in Togo include:
Rail transport in Togo consists of 568 km (353 mi) (2014) of 1,000 mmmetre gauge railway.
The history of rail transport in Namibia began with a small mining rail line at Cape Cross in 1895. The first major railway project was started in 1897 when the German Colonial Authority built the 600 mm gauge Staatsbahn from Swakopmund to Windhoek. By 1902 the line was completed.
The history of rail transport in Tanzania began in the late nineteenth century.
The Togoland Campaign was a French and British invasion of the German colony of Togoland in West Africa, which began the West African Campaign of the First World War. German colonial forces withdrew from the capital Lomé and the coastal province to fight delaying actions on the route north to Kamina, where the Kamina Funkstation linked the government in Berlin to Togoland, the Atlantic and South America. The main British and French force from the neighbouring colonies of Gold Coast and Dahomey advanced from the coast up the road and railway, as smaller forces converged on Kamina from the north. The German defenders were able to delay the invaders for several days at the battles of Agbelouve and Chra but surrendered the colony on 26 August 1914. In 1916, Togoland was partitioned by the victors and in July 1922, British Togoland and French Togoland were established as League of Nations mandates.
The Battle of Beleaguer, also known as the Battle of Tsewie, was fought during the First World War between invading British Empire soldiers of the West African Rifles and German troops in German Togoland on 15 August 1914. British troops occupying the Togolese capital of Lomé on the coast, had advanced towards a wireless station at Kamina, 100 mi (160 km) inland on hills near Atakpamé. The only routes inland were by the railway and road, which had been built through dense and almost impassable jungle.
The Battle of Chra was fought by British and French troops against German soldiers and paramilitary police in the village of Chra, near the Chra river on 22 August 1914, during the Togoland Campaign of the First World War. The German defenders mined the approaches to the river, blew the bridges and dug in around the village on the far bank, ready to defend the crossing with rifles and three concealed machine-guns. The British-French attack was repulsed and then a German counter-attack was ordered but many troops refused the order and the attack was not delivered.
The history of rail transport in Cameroon began at around the turn of the twentieth century.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Lomé, Togo.
The Ghana–Togo border is 1,098 km in length and runs from the tripoint with Burkina Faso in the north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south.
The Lomé–Aného railway was the first railway in the German protectorate of Togoland. Over a length of 44 kilometers, it connected the administrative center of Lomé with the coastal town of Aného. Colloquially, the coastal railway was also called Kokosnussbahn – coconut trees grew on the dunes between the beach and the lagoon; oil palm products were often transport goods.
The Lomé–Blitta railway was the third railway line built in today's Togo. It was also called Hinterlandbahn or Baumwoll-Bahn.
The Lomé–Kpalimé railway was the second railway line built in today's Togo. It was also called Inlandbahn or Kakao-Bahn.
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