The factual accuracy of parts of this article (those related to article) may be compromised due to out-of-date information.(April 2010) |
Sudan has 4,725 kilometers of narrow-gauge, single-track railways. The main line runs from Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border to Khartoum and southwest to El-Obeid via Sennar and Kosti, with extensions to Nyala in Southern Darfur and Wau in Western Bahr al Ghazal, South Sudan. Other lines connect Atbara and Sennar with Port Sudan, and Sennar with Ad-Damazin. A 1,400-kilometer line serves the Al Jazirah cotton-growing region. There are plans to rehabilitate rail transport to reverse decades of neglect and declining efficiency. [1] Service on some lines may be interrupted during the rainy season.
As of 2022 the Sudan Railways Corporation maintains 4,578 km of 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge rail. [2] The main line linking Khartoum to Port Sudan carries over two-thirds of Sudan's rail traffic. [3]
Sudan Railways is Sudan's main railway system and is operated by the government-owned Sudan Railways Corporation (SRC), provides services to most of the country's production and consumption centers. [3] Rail dominated commercial transport in the early years of independent Sudan but competition from highways increased rapidly and by 2013, 90% of inland transport in Sudan was by road. [4] The main rail system was reorganised into two parts; the SRC which owned the physical assets of the Sudan Railways and the other part being a collection of private companies which organise the operation of the network. In 2013 10 private companies were reported to be running operations in different lines. [4] [5]
The history of rail transport in Sudan began in 1874 [6] when the Khedive of Egypt Isma'il Pasha established a line from Wadi Halfa to Sarras about 54 km upstream on the east bank of the Nile, as a commercial undertaking. [7] The line did not prove to be commercially viable, and operations were stopped by the Governor-General Charles Gordon in 1878 to reduce expenditure. In 1884, the line was extended to Akasha on the Nile by the Nile Expedition, but was destroyed by the Ansar when the Anglo-Egyptian troops withdrew to Wadi Halfa. [6]
In 1884, during the Red Sea Expedition, John Aird & Co. constructed a 20-mile (32 km) line from Suakin on the Red Sea inland to Otau, but it was abandoned in 1885. [8] In May 1887, the Wadi Halfa-Saras line was extended again to Kerma, above the third cataract, to support the Anglo-Egyptian Dongola Expedition against the Mahdist State. [9] The line, which was poorly constructed and of little other use, was abandoned in 1905. [8] [10] [7]
The first segment of the present-day Sudan Railways, from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad on the Nile, was also a military undertaking. It was built by the British in the late 1890s, for use in General Herbert Kitchener's drive against the Mahdist State. During the campaign, the line was pushed to Atbara on the Nile in 1897 and, after the Battle of Omdurman in 1898, was continued to Khartoum, which it reached on the last day of 1899. [8] The line was built in the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge, the result of Kitchener's use of the rolling stock and rails of that gauge from the old line. That gauge became the standard for all later Sudanese mainline construction. [7]
The line opened a trade route from central Sudan through Egypt to the Mediterranean. The line became uneconomical due to the distance became uneconomic because of the distance and the need to ship things via boat down the Nile, so, in 1904, construction of a new line from Atbara to the Red Sea was undertaken, with the line being completed in October 1905. [8] In 1906, the new line reached the recently built Port Sudan to provide a direct connection between Khartoum and ocean-going transport. [7]
In 1911, a line was also constructed from Khartoum southward to Sennar within the cotton-growing region of Al Jazirah. [11] In February 1912, a westward continuation reached El-Obeid, then the country's second-largest city, and the center of gum arabic production. [8] In the north, a branch line was built from near Abu Hamad to Karima that tied the navigable stretch of the Nile between the fourth and third cataracts into the transport system. Traffic in this case, however, was largely inbound to towns along the river, a situation that still prevailed in 1990. [7]
In the 1920s, a spur of the railway was built from Hayya, a point on the main line 200 km southwest of Port Sudan, then extended south to the cotton-producing area near Kassala, the grain region of Al Qadarif and, finally, to a junction with the main line at Sennar. Much of the area's traffic, which formerly had passed through Khartoum, has since moved over that line directly to Port Sudan. [7]
The final phase of railway construction began in the 1950s. [12] It included extension of the western line to Nyala (1959) in Darfur Province, and a southwesterly branch to Wau (1961), southern Sudan's second largest city, located in Bahr el Ghazal. That essentially completed the Sudan Railways network, which totalled about 4,800 route km in 1990. [7] There were small later extensions from Abu Gabra to El Muglad (52 km in 1995), El Obeid to the El Obeid refinery (10 km), and El Ban to the Merowe Dam (10 km.). [13]
Route | Years | Length |
---|---|---|
Wadi Halfa-Abu Hamad | 1897–1898 | 350 km |
Abu Hamad- Atbara | 1898 | 244 km |
Atbara- Khartoum | 1898–1900 | 313 km |
Atbara-Port Sudan | 1904–1906 | 474 km |
Station No. 10-Karima | 1905 | 222 km |
Khartoum-Kosti- El Obeid | 1909–1911 | 689 km |
Hayya-Kassala | 1923–1924 | 347 km |
Kassala-Gedarif | 1924–1928 | 218 km |
Gedarif- Sennar | 1928–1929 | 237 km |
Sennar-Damazin | 1953–1954 | 227 km |
Aradeiba Junction-Babanusa | 1956–1957 | 354 km |
Babanusa- Nyala | 1957–1959 | 335 km |
Babanusa-Wau | 1959–1962 | 444 km |
Girba-Digiam | 1962 | 70 km |
Muglad-Abu Gabra | 1995 | 52 km |
In the 1950s Sudan Railways began replacing their steam locomotives with diesel locomotives and by the early 1960s had replaced all of the trains on their main lines. Steam locomotives continued to be used by Sudan Railways on lines with lighter weight rails. [15] [7] A number of South African diesel locomotives are in use in Sudan.
Through the 1960s, rail had a practical monopoly on the transportation of goods to and from Sudan. Sudan Railways suffered losses in the early 1970s, though they briefly recovered following the acquisition of new diesel equipment in 1976 further losses occurred in the late 1970s. The losses were attributed to various factors including, inflation, the lack of spare parts, the company's headquarters being located in Atbara rather than in Khartoum, the continuation of certain lines having only light traffic. [15] [7] Hassan Ahmed El Sheikh, a former secretary of a railway union in the Sudan blamed Gaafar Nimeiry's attempts to weaken unions (who had organised numerous strikes on the railway) by firing over 20,000 employees between 1975 and 1991. El Sheikh also blamed Omar al-Bashir who took office in 1989 and continued Nimeiry's anit-union policies. [16] The road system, although generally more expensive, was used increasingly for low-volume, high-value goods because it could deliver more rapidly—2 or 3 days from Port Sudan to Khartoum, compared with 7 or 8 days for express rail freight and up to two weeks for ordinary freight. In 1982, only one to two percent of freight and passenger trains arrived on time. [17] The gradual erosion of freight traffic was evident in the drop from more than 3 million tons carried annually at the beginning of the 1970s to about 2 million tons at the end of the decade. The 1980s also saw a steady erosion of tonnage as a result of a combination of inefficient management, union stubbornness, the failure of agricultural projects to meet production goals, a lack of spare parts and the continuing civil war. The bridge at Aweil was destroyed in the 1980s [7] and Wau was without rail access until 2010 and became part of South Sudan when it declared independence in 2011. [18] During the civil war in the south (1983–2005) military trains went as far as Aweil accompanied by large numbers of troops and militia, causing great disruption to civilians and humanitarian aid organisations along the railway line. [7]
Efforts were made in the late 1970s and the 1980s to improve through laying heavier rails, repairing locomotives, purchasing new locomotives, modernizing signaling equipment, expanding training facilities, and improving repair facilities. Substantial assistance was given by foreign governments and organizations, including the European Development Fund, the AFESD, the International Development Association, the United Kingdom, France, China and Japan. Implementation of much of this work was hampered by political instability in the 1980s, debt, the lack of hard currency, the shortage of spare parts, and import controls. [19] Rail was estimated in mid-1989 to be operating at less than 20% of capacity. In 2015 the railways were said to have 60 trains available but the maximum speed they could travel was 40 km/h due to poor railway tracks. [20] [21]
In 2015 al-Bashir promised to modernise and upgrade the Sudanese railways with Chinese funds and technical assistance [22] after years of poor administration and neglect. [20] However a 2016 article noted that many Chinese firms had given up dealing with Sudan because of sanctions and pressure from the US. [16]
In 2021 the government put forward a $640m programme to rehabilitate its rail system. The African Development Bank has offered a $75m grant towards the cost while China State Construction Engineering and several Gulf firms are reported to be interested in becoming involved with the project. The first phase of the project will be to carry out $17m of emergency repairs to lines that are in use. The second will be to renew abandoned lines, most of which are in the south of the country. [1]
The Gezira Light Railway, one of the largest light railways in Africa, evolved from tracks laid in the 1920s' construction of the canals for the Gezira Scheme. At the time, rail had about 135 route km of 2 ft (610 mm) narrow gauge track. As the size of the project area increased, the railway was extended and by the mid-1960s consisted of a complex system totalling 716 route km. Its primary purpose has been to serve the farm area by carrying cotton to ginneries and fertilizers, fuel, food, and other supplies to the villages in the area. [13] Operations usually have been suspended during the rainy season.
The Tokar-Trinkitat Light Railway was built in 1921 and 1922 at 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge and was 29 km long, [23] primarily used for the export of the cotton crop from Tokar. It used ex-War Department Light Railways rolling stock and Simplex locomotives. It was absorbed by Sudan Railways in 1933 and closed in 1952. [24]
In 2011 funds were reportedly obtained to construct an extension from Nyala to Chad [25] with financing to be obtained from China. [26] In 2012 a contract to build a rail line from the Chad–Sudan border to the capital of Chad, N'Djamena was also reported to be signed. [27] But in 2014 it was reported that although Sudan and Chad had agreed to stop supporting rebels in each other's countries, the US$2 billion project had still not been signed nor started. [28]
In June 2020 the funding was approved to finance a $3.4m feasibility study into a standard-gauge rail link between Ethiopia and Sudan. Ethiopia is considering a 1,522 km line between Addis Ababa, Khartoum and Port Sudan on the Red Sea. The route has already been agreed by both governments. The two-year study will assess the railway's technical, economic, environmental and social challenges, including the possibility of procuring it as a public–private partnership. [29]
A 250 km/h rail link from the Egyptian city of Aswan to Wadi Halfa in the north has been proposed. [30] The $2.5 million feasibility study was signed with Kuwaiti investment in April 2022, and would include a 6 km bridge across Lake Nasser. [31] [32] A further standard-gauge extension from Halfa to Khartoum has been proposed to give travelers from there a one-seat ride to Alexandria. [33]
After the Declaration of Independence of South Sudan in 2011, 248 km of the Babanousa-Wau line was no longer located within Sudan.
Khartoum or Khartum is the capital of Sudan. With a population of 6,344,348, Khartoum's metropolitan area is the largest in Sudan.
Sudan is located in Northeast Africa. It is bordered by Egypt to the north, the Red Sea to the northeast, Eritrea and Ethiopia to the east, South Sudan to the south, the Central African Republic to the southwest, Chad to the west and Libya to the northwest. Sudan is the third largest country in Africa, after Algeria and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It was the largest country on the continent until South Sudan split off from it in 2011.
Transport in Sudan during the early 1990s included an extensive railroad system that served the more important populated areas except in the far south, a meager road network, a natural inland waterway—the Nile River and its tributaries—and a national airline that provided both international and domestic service. Complementing this infrastructure was Port Sudan, a major deep-water port on the Red Sea, and a small but modern national merchant marine. Additionally, a pipeline transporting petroleum products extended from the port to Khartoum.
Wādī Ḥalfā is a city in the Northern state of Sudan on the shores of Lake Nubia near the border with Egypt. It is the terminus of a rail line from Khartoum and the point where goods are transferred from rail to ferries going down the lake. As of 2007, the city had a population of 15,725. The city is located amidst numerous ancient Nubian antiquities and was the focus of much archaeological work by teams seeking to save artifacts from the flooding caused by the completion of the Aswan Dam.
The Cape to Cairo Railway was an unfinished project to create a railway line crossing from southern to northern Africa. It would have been the largest, and most important, railway of the continent. It was planned as a link between Cape Town in South Africa and Port Said in Egypt.
The Sudan Military Railway was a military railway constructed from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamed in 1896 and 1897 by Sirdar Horatio Kitchener in order to supply the Anglo-Egyptian army taking part in the Mahdist War. It was the predecessor line for the present-day Sudan Railway.
Before the independence of South Sudan, the States of Sudan were subdivided into 133 districts. With the adoption of the Interim National Constitution of Sudan and the Interim Constitution of Southern Sudan, the ten states of South Sudan are, however, now divided into counties. The maps on this page represent the boundaries as they existed in 2006. Current information is available from the Humanitarian Data Exchange.
The Mahdist War was a war between the Mahdist Sudanese, led by Muhammad Ahmad bin Abdullah, who had proclaimed himself the "Mahdi" of Islam, and the forces of the Khedivate of Egypt, initially, and later the forces of Britain. Eighteen years of war resulted in the creation of Anglo-Egyptian Sudan (1899–1956), a de jure condominium of the British Empire, and the Kingdom of Egypt, in which Britain had de facto control over Sudan. The Sudanese launched several unsuccessful invasions of their neighbours, expanding the scale of the conflict to include not only Britain and Egypt but also the Italian Empire, the Congo Free State and the Ethiopian Empire.
The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Khartoum is the Latin Metropolitan archbishopric with See in national capital Khartoum whose Ecclesiastical province, including the suffragan Obeid, covers Sudan.
Railway stations in Sudan include:
South Sudan does not have an extensive rail system. The current rail infrastructure, which was constructed between 1959–1962, and was left over from the previous Sudan government, is in a serious state of disrepair. It consists of a 248 kilometers (154 mi) narrow-gauge, single-track line that connects Babonosa (Sudan) with the city of Wau in South Sudan. The line was left in poor condition after the Second Sudanese Civil War after several parts of it were mined; the line was fully rehabilitated with United Nations funds.
The Sudans is a region in Northeast Africa comprising the sovereign countries of Sudan and South Sudan. Until 2011, the region was united under a state known as the Republic of the Sudan.
Egypt–Sudan Railway Committee (ESRC) is a multinational committee that was created in 2008 to promote railway connecting lines between Egypt and Sudan.
The Suakin-Berber railway on the Red Sea coastal region in Sudan was a short-lived military project that never reached completion. Its construction began in February 1885, being intended to provide a connection between Berber on the River Nile and Suakin on the Red Sea littoral for the rapid deployment of troops and military equipment in Britain’s involvement in the Mahdist war.
The Anglo-Egyptian conquest of Sudan in 1896–1899 was a reconquest of territory lost by the Khedives of Egypt in 1884–1885 during the Mahdist War. The British had failed to organise an orderly withdrawal of the Egyptian Army from Sudan, and the defeat at Khartoum left only Suakin and Equatoria under Egyptian control after 1885. The conquest of 1896–1899 defeated and destroyed the Mahdist State and re-established Anglo-Egyptian rule, which remained until Sudan became independent in 1956.
Egypt has no operational high-speed rail links, but a project was launched in 2018 to construct three such lines with a total length of about 2,000 kilometres (1,200 mi). The first line links the cities of Ain Sukhna and Marsa Matrouh, the second connects the cities of Sixth of October and Abu Simbel, and the third connects the city of Qena with the cities of Hurghada and Safaga.
{{cite journal}}
: Cite journal requires |journal=
(help)