TRANSPORT: Eritrea’s Railway Rising from the Dead

By IPS Correspondents Reprint | | Print |

Jennie Street

ASMARA, Sep 25 2001 (IPS) - Eritrea’s railway is rising from the dead.

The railway, which is being reconstructed from scratch, is rising from sea level at the Red Sea port of Massawa to Asmara, the highest capital in Africa at 2,394 metres.

The railway, which was a main artery of Eritrean trade before the 30-year liberation war, was abandoned when Ethiopia’s military government came to power in 1974.

For 20 years, the railway, which was once part of an efficient system, carrying freight and passengers, and was the largest employer in the country, fell into dilapidation, prey to the weather and the needs of warring armies.

Track was torn up and scattered across the hillsides. Steel sleepers and rails were used in trenches and tunnels during the war, and by villagers to build their homes. The rolling stock was either taken to Ethiopia or left to rust.

The extensive rail-yards in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea, with sheds, workshops, stores and foundries, were abandoned, dismantled, scattered and plundered. The engine turntable was buried under tonnes of earth. Skilled engineers, drivers, foundry workers and mechanics thought they too were destined for the scrapheap.

But this was not to be, because 25 years later they are back at work, some of them in their 80s. Foundry worker Negash Woldegiorgis is 90, and told IPS “Watch me, I’ll still be working when I’m 100 years old,” as he energetically moved around the foundry.

These veterans are spearheading the rehabilitation of the railway. Debesay Zamo, who drives the diesel Krupps locomotive between Massawa and Ghinda, is 79 years old, and started work 66 years ago.

Furthermore, senior mechanical and electrical engineers, deported from Ethiopia during the 1998-2001 border war with Ethiopia, are now making valuable contributions to the reconstruction. “We must recognise their skills, and I offered them good conditions in order to encourage them,” says Amanuel Ghebreselassie, Manager of the Eritrean Railway.

Additional manpower has come from conscripted soldiers and students who must do four weeks national service every summer holidays. They work as navvies along the line, helping to level track, and clear embankments.

In Asmara the workshops, with much of their equipment dating from the 1920s, have already been largely re-activated. They have their own bronze sand cast iron foundry, a store of Italian patterns for all locomotive components except tubes, a store of spare parts, and woodwork, erecting and machine shops (belt driven), reached by a transverser.

Additional limited workshop and shedding facilities have been recreated at Ghinda, halfway between Massawa and Asmara. Not only are the workshops now re-making parts, but they are also taking contract work from other government ministries, because both the mechanical and wood workshops contain the largest machinery of their kind in the country, and are therefore in demand. This is good income-generation for the railway.

The Italian colonisers began to build the Eritrean railway in 1888, the first stage in their grand plan to conquer Africa. It finally reached Agordat, 306 kilometres to the west, in 1928. The skill of those Italian engineers is everywhere evident today. There are 30 tunnels between Massawa and Asmara, and 65 bridges. Most have remained intact and structurally sound, needing little repair.

When the railway was at its peak in the 1950s, 38 trains a day ran in each direction from Massawa to Asmara, and there were 23 steam locomotives, four diesel engines, and four diesel shunters, eight railcars, 19 passenger coaches and about 500 goods wagons.

Some rolling stock has now been restored, and 30 open and closed freight wagons, five passenger coaches, two 1957 Krupp diesel locomotives, a railcar, and three steam engines (two of them dating from 1938) have been brought into service.

By 1998, 70 kilometres from Massawa on the Red Sea, to the town of Ghinda, was reopened, though only the 24 kilometres from Damas to Massawa has a daily train.

In 2001, another 18-kilometre section beyond Ghinda, up to Embatkala, had been completed, but a road bridge removed to allow the passing of large vehicles, needs replacing, and a bypass constructing. This terrain is mountainous, with precipitous drops beside the existing road.

In the mid 1990s, the Eritreans turned down the offer of a large EU project to rebuild the line, because, as Ghebreselassie commented, “Much of it would go in salaries to European consultants, and we have the capacity to do it ourselves.”

Internal top level political support has ensured that the reconstruction has continued, using Eritrea’s own resources, despite the recent war.

There are enough sleepers and rails to complete the last 28 kilometres to Asmara, although there is a shortage of connections for the sleepers; in August 2001 the Italian Government agreed 600,000 U.S. Dollars for the purchase of bolts for the line.

“We wanted these (bolts) to be supplied from South Africa, as their prices are good,” Amanuel told IPS ruefully, “but now we think the Italians will want us to buy from Italy with their money, so we shall not be able to get all we need.” This confirms the Eritreans’ earlier decision to be self-reliant in their reconstruction.

Some controversy surrounds the reconstruction of a narrow gauge railway of only one metre. How viable is it to reconstruct a railway that will not be able to carry containers up to the capital? “We have the patterns for every part of every engine, except tubes, and can rebuild what we need,” says Amanuel. “If there was outside donation they would insist on a wider gauge, and we would have to buy everything new.”

It could also mean high costs for widening the existing track, which often only just squeezes through passes, tunnels and over bridges, and would almost certainly require new tunnels and bridges.

The viability of the line will be its attraction as a tourist destination. The first tour of rail enthusiasts visited Eritrea in December 2000, and its participants were delighted with the whole experience.

The railway authority can earn 20,000 U.S. Dollars for train chartering for a week’s tour, as well as other income from the sale of souvenirs, and hotel bookings.

Railway tour operators from around the world are now clamouring for dates in Eritrea, and with Eritrea’s determination to complete the reconstruction itself, it looks like becoming one of the great steam destinations of the 21st century, as well as a good earner of foreign currency for Eritrea.