Business
Rail in Ethiopia riding high while Kenya is still lagging behind
At Meskel Square, in the heart of Addis Ababa, traffic is even more chaotic than usual as cars, buses and pedestrians weave around the 5.5m-high pillars now straddling an eight-lane highway. Confusion reigns too at Mexico Square to the west and Megenagna round, about to the east, evidence that work on the city’s light rail transit (LRT) system is progressing at a phenomenal pace.
East Africa is home to a series of promising rail projects, from Kenya’s standard gauge line to the railroad linking the Ethiopian capital to the port of Djibouti. Ethiopia’s projects are far more advanced, since they benefit from the wholesale support of the government, while Kenya’s are lagging behind.
The railway to link South Sudan to the port at Lamu lacks investment, and the development of the new standard gauge line is bogged down in debates about how the contract was awarded. In Ethiopia, two twin-track lines will bisect Addis Ababa north to south and east to west, diving underground along certain sections and, as in Meskel Square, rising up high on elevated tracks. Trains will run for up to 18 hours per day at intervals of three to six minutes at peak times and will be able to carry a maximum of 60,000 passengers per hour.
With journey times from the periphery slashed by up to two-thirds, the LRT has the potential to revolutionize transportation in this fast-growing city. “Ground was broken on 31 January 2012 and the first trains are expected to start running on 1 January 2015,” says project manager Behailu Sintayehu, adding that 52% of the construction has been completed so far. More than 3,000 Ethiopian laborers and engineers, overseen by the main contractor China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), are working in shifts around the clock to meet the ambitious deadline.
Networking the country
This first phase of the LRT scheme is expected to cost $475m, with 85% of the financing in the form of a loan from China Export-Import Bank. The Ethiopian government is funding the remainder. A second phase, which will double the length of the track and reach further into the city’s suburbs, is also planned.
Aside from the Addis Ababa mass transit system, the Ethiopian Railways Corporation (ERC) – the body charged with realising the government’s bold rail strategy – has also begun construction of a 5,000km network that will criss-cross the country, stretching into almost every area of Ethiopia.
“The main purpose of the national network is to connect Ethiopia economically and increase access for imports and exports,” explains Abebe Miheretu, head of information and public relations at the ERC. The routes will link the country’s main productive centres, allowing for the swifter transport of commodities such as sugar, charcoal, potash and coffee, he continues. They will also extend to the borders with Djibouti, Sudan, South Sudan and Kenya.
