Africa – Page 28
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NewsTrains resume between Kolwezi and Dilolo
DR CONGO: Ahead of the relaunch of regular passenger and mail trains on August 25, Ilunga Ilunkamba, Director-General of state railway SNCC, joined a special train inspecting the upgraded route between Kolwezi and Dololo on August 11.No trains have used this 422 km section of the former Benguela Railway in ...
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NewsEBRD to support Egyptian rail freight reform
EGYPT: The European Bank for Reconstruction & Development is considering providing a sovereign loan of up to €150m to support a €224m plan for Egyptian National Railways to purchase up to 50 diesel locomotives as part of a strategy to reform and commercialise the rail freight sector. The intention is ...
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NewsRevised Abidjan – Ouagadougou concession signed
AFRICA: Sitarail is to begin a programme to modernise 852 track-km of the Abidjan – Ouagadougou – Kaya railway in September, following the signing of a revised concession agreement with the governments of Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso on July 29. The agreement was signed during the two countries’ 5th ...
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NewsDakar Train Express Régional contracts
SENEGAL: State investment and public works agency APIX has selected preferred bidders for the construction of the Train Express Régional, a planned 1 435 mm gauge double-track line to be built in two phases to link Dakar with Diamniadio (36 km) and Blaise Diagne International Airport (a further 19 km). ...
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NewsPresident inaugurates Abuja – Kaduna railway
NIGERIA: The 187 km standard gauge line between Kaduna and Abuja was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 26. Nigerian Railway Corp had begun a period of trial operation on June 15, with passengers carried free of charge until the inauguration day when fares of N500 in standard class ...
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NewsSidi Bel Abbès tram on test
ALGERIA: The first tram for Sidi Bel Abbès has started dynamic testing on 4 km of the first 14·5 km of the city’s tram route, which is due to open for passenger service in late 2016. The CITAL joint venture of Alstom, Ferrovial and Entreprise Métro d'Alger is producing ...
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NewsLagos metro train unveiled
NIGERIA: CRRC Dalian has unveiled its first metro train for Lagos. The Type B set is based on the design for Tianjin metro Line 2, but with four cars rather than six. Lagos Metropolitan Area Transport Authority ordered 15 trainsets from CRRC Dalian in January 2015 for ...
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NewsGabon rail upgrade funding agreed
GABON: The World Bank Group’s International Finance Corp has agreed to provide railway concessionaire Société d’Exploitation du Transgabonais with €52·5m of debt financing to boost the capacity, efficiency and reliability of the rail network, while the Proparco private sector financing arm of the French Development Agency is ...
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NewsEMD locos arrive in Algeria
ALGERIA: National railway SNTF has taken delivery of a batch of 10 GT46AC diesel-electric locomotives supplied by Progress Rail Services subsidiary Electro-Motive Diesel. The locomotives were delivered from the USA to Algeria by Combi Lift’s CL900 lift-on lift-off ship Palmerton. SNTF has ordered a total of 30 of the ...
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NewsHeliopolis tramway revival memorandum signed
EGYPT: The Ministry of International Co-operation and the European Bank for Reconstruction & Development have signed a memorandum of understanding which could lead to EBRD contributing US$250m to a planned US$500m rehabilitation of the out-of-use Heliopolis tramway between Ramses station and the Almaza district of Cairo. The memorandum is an ...
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NewsAlgerian train manufacturing framework signed
ALGERIA: An agreement for the Cital joint venture to begin assembling and maintaining Coradia regional and inter-city trainsets in Algeria was signed on April 10 by Cital partners Alstom (49%), Entreprise Métro d'Alger (10%) and Ferrovial (41%), and also national railway SNTF which is to become a shareholder in the ...
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NewsCTLE rebrands as Alstom Ubunye
SOUTH AFRICA: Alstom announced Alstom Ubunye (‘unity’ in Zulu) as the new name for Commuter Transport & Locomotive Engineering on April 6, when it confirmed that following regulatory approval it had completed the acquisition of a 51% stake in the rolling stock refurbishment business which had been announced on November ...
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NewsSiemens to modernise Egyptian signalling
EGYPT: Siemens has finalised a contract to supply Egyptian National Railways with signalling equipment for the Zagazig - Abu Kebir and Benha - Port Said routes, a total of 260 km with 21 stations. Commissioning is scheduled for 2020. The existing mechanical interlockings are to be replaced with centrally-controlled electronic ...
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NewsBotswana Railways coaches delivered
BOTSWANA: The first 22 of 37 coaches which Botswana Railways ordered from South Africa’s Transnet Engineering were delivered to Gaborone by rail in late March, and the rest are scheduled to arrive by May. The coaches are being produced at Transnet’s Koedoespoort and Salt River plants, with Transnet outsourcing ‘a ...
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NewsNew operator for Dakar – Bamako railway
AFRICA: The governments of Senegal and Mali have established Dakar Bamako Ferroviaire to manage the revival of the 1 286 km railway between the port of Dakar and Bamako. The new company replaces concessionaire TransRail, a 51% subsidiary of Advens which had operated the metre-gauge line under a concession awarded ...
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NewsNacala Corridor wagon lease signed
AFRICA: Northern Mozambique railway concessionaire Corredor De Desenvolvimento Do Norte has signed a five-year agreement to lease 100 grain wagons from GPR Leasing Africa for use between Bakhresa Malawi Ltd’s grain terminal at the Port of Nacala and a milling and packing plant in Malawi. The 1 067 mm gauge ...
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NewsGibela starts work on EMU factory
SOUTH AFRICA: The Gibela joint venture of Alstom and local partners marked the start of construction of its new EMU manufacturing plant at Dunnotar on March 4, with a ceremony attended by Alstom Chairman & CEO Henri Poupart-Lafarge, PRASA Chairman Dr Popo Molefe, Transport Minister Dipuo Peters and the Mayor ...
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NewsTülomsaş looks east for export orders
TURKEY: State-owned rolling stock supplier Tülomsaş says it is optimistic about winning more export business in Asia and North Africa as the liberalisation of national railway TCDD requires it to adopt a more commercially-driven business model. Speaking to Railway Gazette International at the Eurasiarail trade fair in Istanbul on March ...
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NewsRovos Rail buys Shongololo Express
SOUTH AFRICA: Luxury cruise train operator Rovos Rail has completed the purchase of the Shongololo Express, taking over 19 coaches and agreeing to employ all of the staff. Shongololo Express operates three routes from Pretoria, with the Southern Cross to Victoria Falls and Dune Express to Swakopmund ...
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NewsNairobi plans light rail network
KENYA: Work on a light rail network in Nairobi is due to start by June, President Uhuru Kenyatta announced on February 19. The first phase would link the existing railway station with the future terminus of the standard gauge line under construction between Nairobi and Mombasa. Further phases would ...