Misplaced Pages

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118-542: The railway has been mostly superseded by the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway , an electrified standard gauge railway that was completed in 2017. The metre gauge railway has been abandoned in central Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, a rehabilitated section is still in operation near the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. As of February 2018, a combined passenger and freight service runs two times a week between

236-508: A slipformed (or pre-cast) concrete base (development 2000s). The 'embedded rail structure', used in the Netherlands since 1976, initially used a conventional UIC 54 rail embedded in concrete, and later developed (late 1990s) to use a 'mushroom' shaped SA42 rail profile; a version for light rail using a rail supported in an asphalt concrete –filled steel trough has also been developed (2002). Modern ladder track can be considered

354-599: A train track or permanent way (often " perway " in Australia or " P Way " in Britain and India), is the structure on a railway or railroad consisting of the rails , fasteners , railroad ties (sleepers, British English) and ballast (or slab track ), plus the underlying subgrade . It enables trains to move by providing a dependable surface for their wheels to roll upon. Early tracks were constructed with wooden or cast iron rails, and wooden or stone sleepers; since

472-440: A "clickety-clack" sound. Unless it is well-maintained, jointed track does not have the ride quality of welded rail and is less desirable for high speed trains . However, jointed track is still used in many countries on lower speed lines and sidings , and is used extensively in poorer countries due to the lower construction cost and the simpler equipment required for its installation and maintenance. A major problem of jointed track

590-604: A bi-national public company headquartered in Addis Ababa, was formed in 2017 to operate the railway. It is owned by the governments of Ethiopia (75% share) and Djibouti (25% share). Ethiopia holds the CEO post, represented through the Ethiopian Minister of Transport . The company currently occupies an administrative role, but it will take over railway operations at the beginning of 2024. Through 2023, all operations on

708-464: A catastrophic drought, and the port of Djibouti was backed up with ships waiting to unload grain for hungry Ethiopians. Although construction was still in progress on some sections, the completed portion of the railway was put into emergency operation in November 2015 to carry grain to drought-stricken Ethiopia. The officially completed Ethiopian section was formally inaugurated on 5 October 2016 in

826-684: A combined effort of the two governments of Djibouti and Ethiopia. In the second half of 2017, construction works started at the Port of Doraleh near the DCT to link this container terminal with the railway. The Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway project provided lessons for other railway projects in Ethiopia. The Awash–Hara Gebeya Railway and the Hara Gebeya–Mek'ele Railway construction projects were expanded to include supporting infrastructure. To make up for

944-415: A continuous reinforced concrete slab and the use of pre-cast pre-stressed concrete units laid on a base layer. Many permutations of design have been put forward. However, ballastless track has a high initial cost, and in the case of existing railroads the upgrade to such requires closure of the route for a long period. Its whole-life cost can be lower because of the reduction in maintenance. Ballastless track

1062-481: A development of baulk road. Ladder track utilizes sleepers aligned along the same direction as the rails with rung-like gauge restraining cross members. Both ballasted and ballastless types exist. Modern track typically uses hot-rolled steel with a profile of an asymmetrical rounded I-beam . Unlike some other uses of iron and steel , railway rails are subject to very high stresses and have to be made of very high-quality steel alloy. It took many decades to improve

1180-567: A further blow to the railway, as Somali troops invaded Ethiopia and captured the railway as far as Dire Dawa. Portions of the railway were blown up in the war, and railway operations were again cut in half. After the war ended, the railway continued to decline from a lack of maintenance and attacks from rebels such as the Ogaden Liberation Front . Both the lack of maintenance and an ambitious road construction program made rail transport increasingly non-competitive. In January 1985,

1298-636: A loan in 1965, the project was never realised. Following the independence of Djibouti in 1977, the French share in the railway was transferred to the new nation. Around 1982, the railway was subsequently reorganized as the Ethio-Djibouti Railways ( Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Éthiopien ). After World War II, the railway began a long period of decline. Traffic on the railway dropped in half from 1953 to 1957, as road transport began to compete for cargo. The Ogaden War of 1977–1978 dealt

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1416-411: A new concession to finish the line to Addis Ababa. After a year of wrangling with the previous financiers and their governments, construction began anew. By 1915 the line reached Akaki , only 23 kilometers from the capital, and two years later came all the way to Addis Ababa itself. After having reached Addis Ababa, construction of railways stopped in Ethiopia. The original plans included an extension of

1534-400: A royal charter on March 9, 1894, but Menelek resisted putting any of his personal funds into the venture. Instead, the company received a 99-year concession to operate the railway, in return for giving Menelek shares in the company and half of all profits in excess of 3,000,000 francs . Furthermore, the firm was obliged to construct a telegraph line along the route. It took until 1897 before

1652-558: A small operations building in addition to the passenger station building. Dedicated railway stations with a single platform and station facilities for travellers were present at only three stations along the railway: Legehar train station , Dire Dawa, and Djibouti City. The Addis Ababa railway station was completed its current form in 1929, the Dire Dawa station in 1910, and the Djibouti City station in 1900. The Dire Dawa station

1770-580: A spur line to Modjo Dry Port started in 2017 and was well underway in May 2017. The Modjo Dry Port railway loading and unloading facilities became partially operational at the end of 2017, but are (2018) still not completed. The three missing railway facilities at the Port of Doraleh, connections and railway terminals (Djibouti Container Terminal (DCT), Doraleh Multipurpose Port (DMP) and the Horizon Oil Terminal (HDTL)) will "soon" be built through

1888-511: A station building attached to it. The platforms are about 200, 300, or 400 meters long. The Awash station, the only one with three platforms, is also located along the railway but also at the junction point with the Awash–Hara Gebeya Railway . The Furi-Labu and Dewale stations have two platforms. All station buildings along the line contain facilities for ticketing and refreshment, and they even have prayer rooms. The architecture of

2006-465: A temperature roughly midway between the extremes experienced at that location. (This is known as the "rail neutral temperature".) This installation procedure is intended to prevent tracks from buckling in summer heat or pulling apart in the winter cold. In North America, because broken rails are typically detected by interruption of the current in the signaling system, they are seen as less of a potential hazard than undetected heat kinks. Joints are used in

2124-471: Is 115 to 141 lb/yd (57 to 70 kg/m). In Europe, rail is graded in kilograms per metre and the usual range is 40 to 60 kg/m (81 to 121 lb/yd). The heaviest mass-produced rail was 155 pounds per yard (77 kg/m), rolled for the Pennsylvania Railroad . The rails used in rail transport are produced in sections of fixed length. Rail lengths are made as long as possible, as

2242-442: Is 24.9 million tonnes of freight annually, with 6 million tonnes annually expected in 2023. These plans are accompanied by construction works at the Port of Doraleh to expand the annual cargo handling capacity from 6 to 14 million tonnes, with the aim of reaching 10 million tonnes of cargo by 2022. In 2019 the railway transported 84 073 passengers and generated US$ 1.2 million in revenue from that service, less than in 2018. In 2019

2360-408: Is a manual process requiring a reaction crucible and form to contain the molten iron. North American practice is to weld 1 ⁄ 4 -mile-long (400 m) segments of rail at a rail facility and load it on a special train to carry it to the job site. This train is designed to carry many segments of rail which are placed so they can slide off their racks to the rear of the train and be attached to

2478-494: Is cracking around the bolt holes, which can lead to breaking of the rail head (the running surface). This was the cause of the Hither Green rail crash which caused British Railways to begin converting much of its track to continuous welded rail. Where track circuits exist for signalling purposes, insulated block joints are required. These compound the weaknesses of ordinary joints. Specially-made glued joints, where all

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2596-466: Is graded by its linear density , that is, its mass over a standard length. Heavier rail can support greater axle loads and higher train speeds without sustaining damage than lighter rail, but at a greater cost. In North America and the United Kingdom, rail is graded in pounds per yard (usually shown as pound or lb ), so 130-pound rail would weigh 130 lb/yd (64 kg/m). The usual range

2714-402: Is scarce and where tonnage or speeds are high. Steel is used in some applications. The track ballast is customarily crushed stone, and the purpose of this is to support the sleepers and allow some adjustment of their position, while allowing free drainage. A disadvantage of traditional track structures is the heavy demand for maintenance, particularly surfacing (tamping) and lining to restore

2832-456: Is starting to paint rails white to lower the peak temperatures reached in summer days. After new segments of rail are laid, or defective rails replaced (welded-in), the rails can be artificially stressed if the temperature of the rail during laying is cooler than what is desired. The stressing process involves either heating the rails, causing them to expand, or stretching the rails with hydraulic equipment. They are then fastened (clipped) to

2950-517: Is supplied at 35.8 km intervals, with 18+1 stations in Ethiopia and three in Djibouti. General electrification ends after the Djibouti –Nagad passenger station. Trains are pulled by diesel locomotives to reach the Port of Doraleh and cargo terminals at inland dry ports. This is necessary to avoid interference between the overhead catenary and loading cranes. The rolling stock is allocated from

3068-430: Is the main intermediate stop, as most maintenance workshops and other facilities are located there. Only the Dire Dawa railway station remains operational as of 2018. The Ethio-Djibouti Railway was based on French railway standards. The ballast bed for the rails was made by crushed stone, usually 4 centimetres in size. French steelworks supplied almost all of the rails and sleepers from 1898 to 1975, when maintenance of

3186-562: Is the only double-track section of the line, and it also has the highest grades with a net elevation loss of 650 meters. It features several viaducts with lengths of up to 800 meters. The remainder of the railway is single-track, with passing loops distributed evenly along its length. The railway begins at Sebeta, just outside of Ethiopia's capital of Addis Ababa . The city is served by two stations in its southern outskirts, at Furi-Lebu  [ zh ] and Indode . The line then runs southeast to Modjo and Adama, both towns located in

3304-767: Is to bolt them together using metal fishplates (jointbars in the US), producing jointed track . For more modern usage, particularly where higher speeds are required, the lengths of rail may be welded together to form continuous welded rail (CWR). Jointed track is made using lengths of rail, usually around 20 m (66 ft) long (in the UK) and 39 or 78 ft (12 or 24 m) long (in North America), bolted together using perforated steel plates known as fishplates (UK) or joint bars (North America). Fishplates are usually 600 mm (2 ft) long, used in pairs either side of

3422-435: Is usually considered for new very high speed or very high loading routes, in short extensions that require additional strength (e.g. railway stations), or for localised replacement where there are exceptional maintenance difficulties, for example in tunnels. Most rapid transit lines and rubber-tyred metro systems use ballastless track. Early railways (c. 1840s) experimented with continuous bearing railtrack, in which

3540-629: The Gondar –Dessie– Assab Railway would reach Italian Eritrea, and the Addis Ababa– Dollo – Mogadishu Railway would reach Italian Somaliland. However, Italian setbacks in World War II forced the abandonment of these expansion projects. After British troops expelled the Italians in 1941 and restored Haile Selassie to the throne, the railway line was temporarily closed until 1944. In 1947,

3658-559: The 1906 Tripartite Treaty between Italy , France , and Britain and the 1908 Klobukowski Treaty between France and Ethiopia, Menelek consented to further expansion of the railway. The new concession was granted to Menelek's personal physician, a black Guadeloupean named Dr. Vitalien, on 30 January 1908. The assets of the former company were then transferred to a new firm, the Franco-Ethiopian Railway ( Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Franco-Éthiopien ), which received

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3776-590: The Awash rail disaster killed 429 passengers when their train derailed on the Awash River Bridge and fell into the gorge below. Railway service ended in 2008 between Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, but trains continued to run between Dire Dawa and Djibouti. The governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti pursued foreign aid to rehabilitate the railway. The European Commission prepared a grant of EUR 40 million in 2003 and raised it to EUR 50 million in 2006. An agreement

3894-464: The Awash–Hara Gebeya Railway , which is under construction as of 2018. Directly after Awash station, the line crosses 60 meters above the Awash River canyon over a 155 meter long bridge, the main bridge of the railway. The railway then proceeds to Dire Dawa , where it turns and heads directly for Djibouti. Crossing the Ethiopia-Djibouti border between Dewale and Ali Sabieh , the line reaches

4012-472: The Djibouti passenger terminal at Nagad railway station , near Djibouti–Ambouli International Airport . Freight trains continue the last 12 km (7.5 mi) to the Port of Doraleh on diesel power . There are 21 dedicated railway stations along the railway; all of them can serve as passing loop stations, as they have three tracks or more (except the Adigala station which has only two tracks). Four of

4130-544: The Ethiopian Great Rift Valley . At Modjo, a railway junction exists for the planned Modjo–Hawassa Railway . In addition, at Modjo the railway is connected to the Modjo Dry Port , Ethiopia's most important inland dry port and also Ethiopia's main hub for domestic and international freight services. At Adama, the railway turns northeast towards Dire Dawa. At Awash , there is a junction with

4248-543: The Houthi rebel attacks on the Red Sea since mid-October 2023. The construction of the railway line was an EPC/Turnkey project. However, the accompanying infrastructure was neglected, and the railway was not ready to go into commercial operation at its commissioning. The railway line was built without access roads or freight trunk connections to existing sea and dry ports, industrial zones, and other storage depots. It

4366-523: The Modjo Dry Port near Mojo railway station. Shortage of electrical power has been blamed for test failures. The railway finally began commercial operations on 1 January 2018. There are plans about further extension of the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway to Yemen via 32 km (20 mi)-long Bridge of the Horns but cancelled by various reasons e.g. Yemeni Civil War since 2014 and

4484-880: The National Railway Network of Ethiopia . All the rolling stock had been purchased by Ethiopian Railways Corporation (ERC). All the rolling stock has been transferred to the Ethio-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR) which operates the railway as a share kind contribution by ERC. EDR owns these rolling stocks. EDR is also expected to procure additional rolling stocks to expand its operations. Djibouti did not buy any rolling stock, and even shunting operations at Djibouti's Port of Doraleh will be performed by EDR rolling stock and EDR personnel. Djibouti chose to pay its share on railway construction instead of buying vehicles. Construction began in 2011 and

4602-603: The Port of Djibouti in French Somaliland , providing landlocked Ethiopia with railway access to the sea. The railway is single track and stretched 784 km, of which about 100 km lay in Djibouti . Railway construction started in 1897, one year after Ethiopia preserved its independence against Italian imperialism at the Battle of Adwa . Prior to the construction of the railway, it took six weeks to travel from

4720-588: The 1870s, rails have almost universally been made from steel. The first railway in Britain was the Wollaton Wagonway , built in 1603 between Wollaton and Strelley in Nottinghamshire. It used wooden rails and was the first of around 50 wooden-railed tramways built over the next 164 years. These early wooden tramways typically used rails of oak or beech, attached to wooden sleepers with iron or wooden nails. Gravel or small stones were packed around

4838-664: The 1930s, the railway carried 70% of all Ethiopian trade. Ethiopia's share in the railway was seized by the Italian government in the Second Italo-Abyssinian War (1936), but the Anglo-French company continued to operate during the Italian occupation . Steam trains of the Krupp type took approximately 36 hours to travel the full length of the line. Increased speeds were achieved by importing trains made by

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4956-402: The 21 railway stations are designed as passing loops only, so there is no freight loading / unloading or passenger service. Two of the remaining 17 stations are freight yards only and two others will be for passengers only. The remaining 13 stations can handle both passenger services as well as freight loading / unloading. The 15 passenger stations usually have a single boarding platform, with

5074-473: The Chinese Class 1 standard for all of its railways. The operators of the railway consider an annual freight tonnage that is far below the railway limits. As a rule of thumb, the operators foresee an annual freight tonnage increase of about one million tonne per year, starting at 1–2 million tonnes in the first year of operations. Although road traffic in Ethiopia drives on the right, trains drive on

5192-670: The Djibouti border was awarded to CRCC. In 2012, Djibouti selected CRCC to complete the final 100 km to the port of Djibouti. The total costs of the railway amounted to US$ 1.873 billion for the Sebeta-Mieso section, US$ 1.12 billion for the Mieso– Dewele section and US$ 525 million for the Dewele–Port of Doraleh section. In 2013, loans totalling US$ 3 billion were secured from the Exim Bank of China , with US$ 2.4 billion going to

5310-689: The ERC stepped in to build and construct the needed infrastructure. Active in particular was the Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Enterprise (ESL) to build spurs to facilities like dry ports and the dry ports as such. Construction of the Dire Dawa Dry Port with a spur line commenced in late 2017. However, it took 12 months just to negotiate the contract for the dry port construction and the construction works turned out to be much more expensive than originally expected. The construction of

5428-464: The Ethiopian city of Dire Dawa and the Djibouti border, stopping at Dewele (passengers) and Guelile (freight). Plans were announced in 2018 to rehabilitate track from Dire Dawa to Mieso. The Ethio-Djibouti Railway is a 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) gauge railway built in 1897–1917. The line connected the new Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa (1886) to

5546-408: The Ethiopian part was taken over by the Ethiopian government. The Ethio-Djibouti Railways Enterprise formally ceased to exist at the end of the year 2016, as the concession originally issued in 1894 by Emperor Menelik II of Ethiopia wasn't renewed. All the properties of the company went back into the ownership of the Ethiopian state. The concession granted in 1894 came into force for 99 years after

5664-685: The Ethiopian section of the railway and the balance to be spent in Djibouti. Additional funding was secured from the China Development Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China . 20,000 Ethiopians and 5,000 Djiboutians were hired for construction work. Track-laying was completed on the Mieso–Djibouti segment of the project in June 2015. In 2015, farmers in Ethiopia had suffered crop failures of between 50% and 90% due to

5782-638: The French colonial port city. Negotiations began anew when Menelik II acceded to the Ethiopian throne in 1889. On February 11, 1893, Menelik II issued a decree to study the construction of a rail line from the new capital city of Addis Ababa . In 1894, Ilg and his French associate Léon Chefneux founded the Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia ( French : Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de fer d'Éthiopie or Compagnie Impériale Éthiopienne , with its headquarters in Paris . The company received

5900-505: The French investors to form the International Ethiopian Railway Trust and Construction Company , a holding company which controlled the railway and supplied it with further capital. The mixture of French and British interests proved volatile, as each group of investors stood for both national and commercial interests. Both governments grew interested in monopolizing Ethiopian trade and conspired to force

6018-601: The Italian manufacturers Ansaldo and Breda , along with self-propelled cars from Fiat. Travel time decrease to 30 hours. The Italian "Addis Ababa Regulatory Plan of 1938" advocated the creation of three railway stations in the city of Addis Ababa to replace the Legehar train station , which would be demolished. The Italian occupiers also planned to build several new railways to link Ethiopia with their other East African colonies. The Addis Ababa– Dessie – Massaua Railway and

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6136-616: The Railroad Workers Syndicate was founded as one of the first labor unions in Ethiopia. Although the Syndicate was mostly a mutual aid organisation, the government viewed strikes as insurrection. A strike in 1949 was brutally suppressed. In 1960–1963, the Franco-Ethiopian Railways conducted surveys to extend the line 310 kilometers from Adama to Dilla . Although the French government offered

6254-673: The Ugandan government in early 2017 revealed that the actual costs of the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway were around US $ 5.2m per km, resulting in total costs of around US $ 4.5b. This is approximately 30% more than originally planned. The two prime contractors, CREC and CCECC, formed a consortium to operate the entire railway for the first 3–5 years, while local personnel are trained. Despite being inaugurated in October 2016 and January 2017, Djiboutian authorities still considered

6372-692: The allowed axle load of the trains on the railway line to 17 tons per axle. Almost half of the rails would be replaced, and along with 49 damaged steel bridges. In 2006, the South African firm Comazar was chosen to receive a 25-year concession. However, this plan was not executed, and in early 2008, it was announced that the railway was in negotiations with the Kuwaiti company Fouad Alghanim and Sons Group. The EU-funded rehabilitation project stagnated, and only 5 km of tracks had been rehabilitated by 2009. The Addis Ababa railway terminal, La Gare ,

6490-453: The backbone of the new Ethiopian National Railway Network . The railway was inaugurated by Prime Minister Hailemariam Desalegn on January 1, 2018. It provides landlocked Ethiopia with access to the sea, linking Ethiopia's capital of Addis Ababa with Djibouti and its Port of Doraleh . More than 95% of Ethiopia's trade passes through Djibouti, accounting for 70% of the activity at the Port of Djibouti . The total railway capacity

6608-400: The bolt heads on the same side of the rail. Small gaps which function as expansion joints are deliberately left between the rail ends to allow for expansion of the rails in hot weather. European practice was to have the rail joints on both rails adjacent to each other, while North American practice is to stagger them. Because of these small gaps, when trains pass over jointed tracks they make

6726-478: The coast to Addis Ababa by camel and mule caravan. The Ethio-Djibouti Railway made the Ethiopian Empire more accessible to the outside world, improving its economic and military competitiveness. Cities grew along the railway line with the expanded opportunities for trade. The railway served as Ethiopia's main transport link until the 1950s, when it began facing competition from road transport. Originally,

6844-433: The commercial centres of Ethiopia (e.g. Addis Ababa) and the sea ports in Djibouti had been broken. At that time, Ethiopia initiated an ambitious Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP) to develop the country's economy through infrastructure investment. A new electrified standard gauge railway was expected to reduce cargo transit times from three days by road to twelve hours by train, and cargo transport costs to one-third of

6962-704: The company owned 60 locomotives, 45 coaches and 353 goods wagons. Until 1951, the main supplier of heavy locomotives was the Swiss Locomotive and Machine Works (SLM), which was known for the performance of its steam locomotives in mountainous terrain. In 1954, the main provider of diesel-powered locomotives became Alsthom . The main locomotives and self-propelled railcars were: Overnight locomotive-hauled trains consisted of 1st salon sleepers, 2nd class couchettes, and 3rd class coaches. Daytime passenger services were operated by 3rd class diesel railcar at speeds of up to 85 km/h. The first diesel -powered railcar

7080-465: The continuous welded rail when necessary, usually for signal circuit gaps. Instead of a joint that passes straight across the rail, the two rail ends are sometimes cut at an angle to give a smoother transition. In extreme cases, such as at the end of long bridges, a breather switch (referred to in North America and Britain as an expansion joint ) gives a smooth path for the wheels while allowing

7198-714: The cost of road transport. In 2011, the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) awarded contracts for railway construction from Addis Ababa to the Djibouti border to two Chinese state-owned companies , the China Railway Group (CREC) and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). The 320 kilometres (200 mi) stretch from Sebeta to Mieso was awarded to CREC, and the 339 kilometres (211 mi) section from Mieso to

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7316-492: The current lack of railway revenues, new and existing railways could be partially outsourced or sold to private investors. To increase utilisation of the railways, any interested railway transportation service provider will be allowed to earn a license to use the existing railway infrastructure. Ethio-Djibouti SGR Railway Company Track (rail transport) A railway track ( British English and UIC terminology ) or railroad track ( American English ), also known as

7434-502: The desert. This meant that the railway company had to build aqueducts to supply its steam locomotives, an additional unplanned expense. Even before reaching the Ethiopian border, it was clear the firm had serious financial problems. A group of British investors calling themselves the New Africa Company effectively took control of the firm over several years. They provided a new source of capital, and by 1901 had joined with

7552-440: The desired track geometry and smoothness of vehicle running. Weakness of the subgrade and drainage deficiencies also lead to heavy maintenance costs. This can be overcome by using ballastless track. In its simplest form this consists of a continuous slab of concrete (like a highway structure) with the rails supported directly on its upper surface (using a resilient pad). There are a number of proprietary systems; variations include

7670-440: The end of one rail to expand relative to the next rail. A sleeper (tie or crosstie) is a rectangular object on which the rails are supported and fixed. The sleeper has two main roles: to transfer the loads from the rails to the track ballast and the ground underneath, and to hold the rails to the correct width apart (to maintain the rail gauge ). They are generally laid transversely to the rails. Various methods exist for fixing

7788-428: The gaps are filled with epoxy resin , increase the strength again. As an alternative to the insulated joint, audio frequency track circuits can be employed using a tuned loop formed in approximately 20 m (66 ft) of the rail as part of the blocking circuit. Some insulated joints are unavoidable within turnouts. Another alternative is an axle counter , which can reduce the number of track circuits and thus

7906-458: The initial stock offering only raised 8,738,000 francs of the 14 million projected, and an additional offering of 25.5 million francs in bonds yielded only 11,665,000 francs. This was far too little to complete the line. Despite the shortfall, construction began in October 1897 from Djibouti , a hitherto minor port city that eventually expanded thanks to the railway. A crew of Arab and Somali workers, overseen by Europeans, began to press inland with

8024-626: The intrinsic weakness in resisting vertical loading results in the ballast becoming depressed and a heavy maintenance workload is imposed to prevent unacceptable geometrical defects at the joints. The joints also needed to be lubricated, and wear at the fishplate (joint bar) mating surfaces needed to be rectified by shimming. For this reason jointed track is not financially appropriate for heavily operated railroads. Timber sleepers are of many available timbers, and are often treated with creosote , chromated copper arsenate , or other wood preservatives. Pre-stressed concrete sleepers are often used where timber

8142-480: The iron came loose, began to curl, and intruded into the floors of the coaches. The iron strap rail coming through the floors of the coaches came to be referred to as "snake heads" by early railroaders. The Deeside Tramway in North Wales used this form of rail. It opened around 1870 and closed in 1947, with long sections still using these rails. It was one of the last uses of iron-topped wooden rails. Rail

8260-402: The joints between rails are a source of weakness. Throughout the history of rail production, lengths have increased as manufacturing processes have improved. The following are lengths of single sections produced by steel mills , without any thermite welding . Shorter rails may be welded with flashbutt welding , but the following rail lengths are unwelded. Welding of rails into longer lengths

8378-404: The left in the double-track sections. This is consistent with Chinese railway practice. The single-track sections are equipped with passing loops, each of which is triple-track so that two trains can wait for the main line to clear. Each station also serves as a passing loop. The railway line is almost fully electrified. Power is transmitted at 230 kV and 130 kV to eight substations. Traction power

8496-888: The mid- to late-20th century used rails 39 feet (11.9 m) long so they could be carried in gondola cars ( open wagons ), often 40 feet (12.2 m) long; as gondola sizes increased, so did rail lengths. According to the Railway Gazette International the planned-but-cancelled 150-kilometre rail line for the Baffinland Iron Mine , on Baffin Island , would have used older carbon steel alloys for its rails, instead of more modern, higher performance alloys, because modern alloy rails can become brittle at very low temperatures. Early North American railroads used iron on top of wooden rails as an economy measure but gave up this method of construction after

8614-453: The necessary permission from French authorities was received, by which time significant opposition in Ethiopia had materialized. The emperor himself was irate at the involvement of the French government, which had offered to fund the line, and there were popular demonstrations against it. There was also opposition from the British legation in Addis Ababa, which feared a reduction in traffic to

8732-567: The new Furi-Labu railway station in Addis Ababa, by the presidents of Ethiopia and Djibouti. On 10 January 2017, the 100 km section of Djibouti side was inaugurated in a ceremony held in the new Nagad railway station of Djibouti City by Djibouti's President Ismail Omar Guelleh and Ethiopia's prime minister Hailemariam Dessalegn , and the director general of the International Union of Railways (UIC), Jean-Pierre Loubinoux . A survey of East African railway projects by

8850-707: The new railway will be undertaken jointly by the China Railway Group Limited (CREC) and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC). During this time, the companies will train local employees so that they can take over railway operations at the conclusion of the initial operation period. The Ethiopian Railway Corporation has also established the African Railway Academy in Bishoftu to graduate rail engineers. The Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway runs roughly parallel to

8968-620: The number of insulated rail joints required. Most modern railways use continuous welded rail (CWR), sometimes referred to as ribbon rails or seamless rails . In this form of track, the rails are welded together by utilising flash butt welding to form one continuous rail that may be several kilometres long. Because there are few joints, this form of track is very strong, gives a smooth ride, and needs less maintenance; trains can travel on it at higher speeds and with less friction. Welded rails are more expensive to lay than jointed tracks, but have much lower maintenance costs. The first welded track

9086-495: The official opening of the railway line in the year 1917, four years after the death of the Emperor. Addis Ababa%E2%80%93Djibouti Railway The Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway ( Amharic : አዲስ አበባ–ጅቡቲ የባቡር መስመር ; French : Chemin de fer Addis Abeba–Djibouti , Oromo : Daandii baaburaa Finfinneefi Jibutii , Somali : Jidka Tareenka ee Addis Ababa-Jabuuti ) is a standard gauge international railway that serves as

9204-430: The old metre-gauge Ethio–Djibouti Railway for most of its length. However, the standard-gauge railway is built on a new, straighter right-of-way that allows for much higher speeds. New stations have been built outside city centres, and most of the old railway stations have been decommissioned. There are 68 viaducts and bridges, comprising 3% of the railway's total length. There are no tunnels. The total length of

9322-482: The other into a minority position. The demands and threats of the two governments led Emperor Menelek in 1902 to forbid the extension of the railway line to Harar . French negotiations to resume work were blocked by Menelek's growing suspicion of French motives, and the line could not earn enough to pay back the company's debts with such a limited service. The signing of the Entente Cordiale in 1904 reopened

9440-404: The outside of sharp curves compared to the rails on the inside. Rails can be supplied pre-drilled with boltholes for fishplates or without where they will be welded into place. There are usually two or three boltholes at each end. Rails are produced in fixed lengths and need to be joined end-to-end to make a continuous surface on which trains may run. The traditional method of joining the rails

9558-519: The port of Djibouti to the Ethiopian capital city of Addis Ababa . The company was founded by Alfred Ilg and Léon Chefneux , headquartered in Paris , France. Discussion of an Ethiopian railway was initiated by the Swiss engineer Alfred Ilg . He attempted, without success, to interest Emperor Yohannes IV in the construction of a railway to replace the six-week mule trek from central Ethiopia to

9676-534: The port of Zeila in British Somaliland . These fears proved well-founded: even half-finished, without links to either Harar or Addis Ababa, the railroad quickly eclipsed the port's former caravan-based trade. The firm also had difficulty selling its shares in Europe. Robert Le Roux campaigned for the line at municipal chambers of commerce around France, but investor interest was restrained. All in all,

9794-574: The possibility of continued joint Anglo-French investment and development, but there was enough resistance to such proposals on both sides that no progress was made. The firm went formally bankrupt in 1906. The portion completed ran from Djibouti to just short of Harar , the principal entrepôt for commerce in southern Ethiopia . The terminus evolved into the city of Dire Dawa , which grew to become larger than Harar itself. The first commercial service began in July 1901 from Djibouti to Dire Dawa. Following

9912-423: The quality of the materials, including the change from iron to steel. The stronger the rails and the rest of the trackwork, the heavier and faster the trains the track can carry. Other profiles of rail include: bullhead rail ; grooved rail ; flat-bottomed rail (Vignoles rail or flanged T-rail); bridge rail (inverted U–shaped used in baulk road ); and Barlow rail (inverted V). North American railroads until

10030-682: The rail by special clips that resist longitudinal movement of the rail. There is no theoretical limit to how long a welded rail can be. However, if longitudinal and lateral restraint are insufficient, the track could become distorted in hot weather and cause a derailment. Distortion due to heat expansion is known in North America as sun kink , and elsewhere as buckling. In extreme hot weather special inspections are required to monitor sections of track known to be problematic. In North American practice, extreme temperature conditions will trigger slow orders to allow for crews to react to buckling or "sun kinks" if encountered. The German railway company Deutsche Bahn

10148-425: The rail ends and bolted together (usually four, but sometimes six bolts per joint). The bolts have alternating orientations so that in the event of a derailment and a wheel flange striking the joint, only some of the bolts will be sheared, reducing the likelihood of the rails misaligning with each other and exacerbating the derailment. This technique is not applied universally; European practice being to have all

10266-500: The rail to the sleeper. Historically, spikes gave way to cast iron chairs fixed to the sleeper. More recently, springs (such as Pandrol clips ) are used to fix the rail to the sleeper chair. Sometimes rail tracks are designed to be portable and moved from one place to another as required. During construction of the Panama Canal , tracks were moved around excavation works. These track gauge were 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) and

10384-655: The rail was supported along its length, with examples including Brunel's baulk road on the Great Western Railway , as well as use on the Newcastle and North Shields Railway , on the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway to a design by John Hawkshaw , and elsewhere. Continuous-bearing designs were also promoted by other engineers. The system was tested on the Baltimore and Ohio railway in the 1840s, but

10502-467: The railway and its associated telegraph. Ethiopians were hired largely as security forces, to prevent the theft of materials on the line. This was also an important source of corruption for the primarily French administration, which fabricated incidents of sabotage and requested funds to buy off local chiefs that it claimed were responsible for it. Furthermore, the line was forced to avoid interfering with local communities and water sources, pushing it out into

10620-521: The railway ceased. The 2007–2012 rehabilitation program funded by the European Union set up two factories in Ethiopia, one in Dukem for steel products and one in Dire Dawa for concrete sleepers . The Imperial Railway Company of Ethiopia ( French : Compagnie Impériale des Chemins de fer d'Éthiopie or Compagnie Impériale Éthiopienne ) was founded in 1894 to build and operate a railway from

10738-418: The railway deteriorated in the 1980s due to a lack of spare parts and maintenance, Addis Ababa lost railroad access to the sea by 2004. Rail service ran between Dire Dawa and Djibouti City until 2010 and then again from 2013 to 2014. Since 2014, operation has only been possible on 213 km of rehabilitated tracks in Ethiopia between Dire Dawa and the border with Djibouti at Guelile . The connection between

10856-463: The railway from Addis Ababa to the Didessa River near Jimma , which would allow the railway to access traffic from the main coffee -producing areas of Ethiopia. However, that plan was scrapped and the railway was considered to be complete after reaching Addis Ababa. In 1929, the main train station in Addis Ababa, the Legehar train station ('La Gare'), was completed and put into operation. In

10974-504: The railway generated US$ 40 million in both passenger and cargo revenue, far below the operating cost of US$ 70 million. During the first half of 2020, the railway transported 0.7 million tonnes of freight. The railway line is jointly owned by both the Djiboutian and Ethiopian governments. In Ethiopia, the state-owned Ethiopian Railway Corporation represents the owner of the railway. The Ethio-Djibouti Standard Gauge Rail Transport S.C.,

11092-405: The railway line is 759 km (472 mi), of which 754 km (469 mi) run between the two terminal stations at Sebeta and the Port of Doraleh. The remaining five kilometers are for shunting operations. A total of 666 km (414 mi) of the railway line is in Ethiopia, while a total of 93 km (58 mi) is in Djibouti. The 115 km (71 mi) section from Sebeta to Adama

11210-420: The railway to be under construction and expected it to become operational not before the end of 2017. An official trial service began on the railway after inauguration in October 2016. On 9 May 2017, the first thorough stress test was conducted, with more than 30 trains on the line at the same time. Passenger trains ran between Furi-Labu and Dire Dawa , while freight services ran between the Port of Doraleh and

11328-412: The railway was French-dominated and served as a French exclave in Ethiopia. In 1909, the railway was nationalized in Ethiopia. The role of Ethiopians in railway operation grew over the decades until they occupied most positions after 1959. The railway became a symbol of Ethiopian independence and a source of national pride. The railway was initially operated exclusively with steam locomotives . In 1936,

11446-562: The rolling stock full size. Portable tracks have often been used in open pit mines. In 1880 in New York City , sections of heavy portable track (along with much other improvised technology) helped in the move of the ancient obelisk in Central Park to its final location from the dock where it was unloaded from the cargo ship SS Dessoug . Cane railways often had permanent tracks for the main lines, with portable tracks serving

11564-399: The royal family and government officials, and two 2nd passenger cars. Freight wagons carried 9–30 tonnes until 1987, when new freight wagons were ordered that could carry 30–40 tonnes. Since the railway was single-track, most stations along the railway included a passing loop . From 1898 until roughly 1960, there were also water towers for supplying steam locomotives. Most stations also had

11682-426: The sleepers in their expanded form. This process ensures that the rail will not expand much further in subsequent hot weather. In cold weather the rails try to contract, but because they are firmly fastened, cannot do so. In effect, stressed rails are a bit like a piece of stretched elastic firmly fastened down. In extremely cold weather, rails are heated to prevent "pull aparts". CWR is laid (including fastening) at

11800-617: The sleepers to hold them in place and provide a walkway for the people or horses that moved wagons along the track. The rails were usually about 3 feet (0.91 m) long and were not joined - instead, adjacent rails were laid on a common sleeper. The straight rails could be angled at these joints to form primitive curved track. The first iron rails laid in Britain were at the Darby Ironworks in Coalbrookdale in 1767. When steam locomotives were introduced, starting in 1804,

11918-540: The sleepers with base plates that spread the load. When concrete sleepers are used, a plastic or rubber pad is usually placed between the rail and the tie plate. Rail is usually attached to the sleeper with resilient fastenings, although cut spikes are widely used in North America. For much of the 20th century, rail track used softwood timber sleepers and jointed rails, and a considerable amount of this track remains on secondary and tertiary routes. In North America and Australia, flat-bottomed rails were typically fastened to

12036-480: The sleepers with dog spikes through a flat tie plate. In Britain and Ireland, bullhead rails were carried in cast-iron chairs which were spiked to the sleepers. In 1936, the London, Midland and Scottish Railway pioneered the conversion to flat-bottomed rail in Britain, though earlier lines had made some use of it. Jointed rails were used at first because contemporary technology did not offer any alternative. However,

12154-680: The station buildings (except that of Awash station) is eclectic , featuring traditional Ethiopian elements with some Chinese interpretation. The Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway was based on the Chinese National Railway Class 2 Standard. However, some changes were made at the request of the Ethiopian Railway Corporation. Ethiopia is not a member of the Northern Corridor Integration Project, which has selected

12272-626: The successor to the Franco– Ethiopian Railway , and it was jointly owned by the governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti. The company was headquartered in Addis Ababa; the ministers of the Djiboutian Ministry of Equipment and Transport and the Ethiopian Ministry of Transportation and Communications were the president and vice-president of the company. In 2010, the company ceased operations with Djibouti leaving,

12390-511: The ties (sleepers) in a continuous operation. If not restrained, rails would lengthen in hot weather and shrink in cold weather. To provide this restraint, the rail is prevented from moving in relation to the sleeper by use of clips or anchors. Attention needs to be paid to compacting the ballast effectively, including under, between, and at the ends of the sleepers, to prevent the sleepers from moving. Anchors are more common for wooden sleepers, whereas most concrete or steel sleepers are fastened to

12508-424: The towns and cities they are intended to serve. For example, the Dire Dawa train station is located 10 km away from Dire Dawa. Due to a lack of inter-country coordination, the Port of Doraleh in Djibouti, despite being the main cargo terminus for the railway, was not linked to the railway. No spur lines were built to the three different terminals in question, and the infrastructure for handling bulk goods and fuels

12626-406: The track then in use proved too weak to carry the additional weight. Richard Trevithick 's pioneering locomotive at Pen-y-darren broke the plateway track and had to be withdrawn. As locomotives became more widespread in the 1810s and 1820s, engineers built rigid track formations, with iron rails mounted on stone sleepers, and cast-iron chairs holding them in place. This proved to be a mistake, and

12744-587: The train. There are plans to restore 150 km of tracks from Dire Dawa to Mieso . Ethio-Djibouti Railways also stands for the Ethio-Djibouti Railways Enterprise ( French : Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Éthiopien (CFE)), which was a bi-national railway company for the administration and operation of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway . The Ethio-Djibouti Railways Enterprise was established in 1981 as

12862-467: Was first introduced around 1893, making train rides quieter and safer. With the introduction of thermite welding after 1899, the process became less labour-intensive, and ubiquitous. Modern production techniques allowed the production of longer unwelded segments. Newer longer rails tend to be made as simple multiples of older shorter rails, so that old rails can be replaced without cutting. Some cutting would be needed as slightly longer rails are needed on

12980-432: Was found to be more expensive to maintain than rail with cross sleepers . This type of track still exists on some bridges on Network Rail where the timber baulks are called waybeams or longitudinal timbers. Generally the speed over such structures is low. Later applications of continuously supported track include Balfour Beatty 's 'embedded slab track', which uses a rounded rectangular rail profile (BB14072) embedded in

13098-407: Was largely complete in 2016, but final testing continued through 2017. The line was formally opened for commercial operations on 1 January 2018. The Addis Ababa–Djibouti railway supersedes the Ethio-Djibouti Railway , a metre-gauge railway that was originally built by the French from 1894 to 1917, which for some time in the 20th century was the only way to reach Ethiopia from the outside world. As

13216-402: Was official policy to prioritize low initial construction costs, as the integration work was considered to be "easy and quick". Another official said that railway integration was too complex to consider at the planning stage, as many local authorities would have to coordinate their efforts. As one of the many consequences, most railway stations are far outside the city centers and even outside

13334-506: Was ordered in 1938 (Fiat "Littorina" series), and only DMUs were ordered after 1950. For political reasons, only the 3rd class coaches and railcars were retained on the railway after 1974. Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia traveled on an imperial train , which consisted of two locomotives, a baggage car with a diesel generator, four imperial carriages for the emperor and his family (lounge, sleeping compartments, offices, kitchen and restaurant), two 1st class salon-sleeper cars for guests of

13452-509: Was signed with the Italian consortium Consta on November 29, 2006, and work began in 2007 on sections of the line that deteriorated following the Ogaden War . The rehabilitation planned to reduce the cost of rail transport between Addis Ababa and Djibouti from $ 55 per tonne to $ 20 per tonne, compared to $ 30 per tonne for road transport. Lightweight rails of 20–25 kg/m would be replaced with heavier 40 kg/m rails, effectively doubling

13570-466: Was soon replaced with flexible track structures that allowed a degree of elastic movement as trains passed over them. Traditionally, tracks are constructed using flat-bottomed steel rails laid on and spiked or screwed into timber or pre-stressed concrete sleepers (known as ties in North America), with crushed stone ballast placed beneath and around the sleepers. Most modern railroads with heavy traffic use continuously welded rails that are attached to

13688-600: Was threatened with demolition in 2008 by a street project, but the building survived. The tracks between Dire Dawa and Addis Ababa fell into total disrepair, and many of the rails were stolen and sold for scrap. Rail service between Dire Dawa and Djibouti City ended in August 2010. However, the rehabilitation project resumed, and the tracks from Dire Dawa to the Djibouti border were returned to service in 2013. As of 2018, trains run on 213 km of rehabilitated line between Dire Dawa and Guelile . However, very few passengers use

13806-424: Was totally missing. After the inauguration of the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway at the end of 2016, the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) in Ethiopia found itself with debt equal to one-third of Ethiopia's annual state budget. As a result, there was no additional funding available to complete the surrounding infrastructure necessary to place the railway into commercial operation. State-owned companies other than

13924-505: Was used in Germany in 1924. and has become common on main lines since the 1950s. The preferred process of flash butt welding involves an automated track-laying machine running a strong electric current through the touching ends of two unjoined rails. The ends become white hot due to electrical resistance and are then pressed together forming a strong weld. Thermite welding is used to repair or splice together existing CWR segments. This

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