Africa – Page 30
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NewsSNTF and Systra to form joint venture
ALGERIA: On October 26 state railway SNTF signed an agreement with French engineering consultancy Systra to form a joint venture specialising in railway systems. With 51% of the Algerian-based company held by SNTF and 49% by Systra, the new joint venture is expected to create around 50 ‘highly qualified’ posts, ...
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NewsCôte d'Ivoire – Mali railway study
CÔTE D'IVOIRE: On October 15 the Ivorian government signed an agreement for FS Group’s engineering consultancy Italferr to plan a 1 000 km railway corridor which would run north from the port of San-Pédro to Bamako, the capital of Mali. Italferr is to undertake a feasibility study for the ...
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NewsPRASA’s Gauteng Nerve Centre completed
SOUTH AFRICA: The Gauteng integrated control centre in Kaalfontein near Johannesburg was handed over to passenger operator PRASA on October 13, and is due to take control of an initial section of the province’s 1 067 mm gauge 3 kV DC electrified main line network from January. The Gauteng Nerve ...
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NewsCasablanca orders 50 more Citadis trams
MOROCCO: Casa Transports has awarded Alstom a €100m contract to supply 50 Citadis trams, power supplies and signalling for Line 2 of the Casablanca tramway. Alstom supplied the initial fleet of 74 Citadis trams for the 31 km Line 1 which opened in 2012. Construction of the 22 km ...
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NewsHigh speed line to Essaouira planned
MOROCCO: The government has issued a Declaration of Public Utility for the development of a second high speed line, which would link Marrakech with the coastal city of Essaouira. National railway ONCF has been tasked with leading the planning and design of the railway, including assessing land acquisition requirements. Covering ...
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NewsStandard gauge to serve Naivasha
KENYA: The 1 435 mm gauge railway now under construction between Mombasa and Nairobi is to be extended by 120 km to serve a new economic development zone at Naivasha in the Rift Valley. An agreement to develop Phase 2A of the standard-gauge project was signed between Kenya Railways Managing ...
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NewsTanger high speed train depot inaugurated
MOROCCO: The rolling stock depot in Tanger which will maintain and service the country’s fleet of high speed trains was officially inaugurated by King Mohammed VI and French President François Hollande on September 20, at a ceremony attended by ONCF Director-General Mohamed Rabie Khlie and SNCF President Guillaume Pepy. Two ...
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NewsAddis Ababa light rail opens
ETHIOPIA: The first light rail line in Addis Ababa was opened for revenue service on September 20, following several months of test running. Hundreds of residents queued for hours ahead of the opening to sample the new service. Designed to relieve growing road congestion as the city’s population passes 5 ...
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NewsAbidjan – Ouagadougou enhancement launched
AFRICA: Work to rehabilitate the 1 260 km metre-gauge railway from Abidjan in Côte d’Ivoire to Ouagadougou and Kaya in Burkina Faso was launched by Ivorian Prime Minister Daniel Kablan Duncan with a ceremony at the renovated Treichville station in Abidjan on September 9. Duncan said the aim of ...
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NewsTransNamib orders GE locomotives
NAMIBIA: National railway TransNamib signed a US$22·7m purchase agreement for six GE Transportation C23EMP locomotives on September 11. The 1 067 mm gauge diesel locomotives are scheduled to be delivered to Walvis Bay within the next 18 to 20 months. They will be used to haul sulphuric acid ...
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NewsSun International to revitalise The Blue Train
SOUTH AFRICA: Following an open tender, national freight operator Transnet has selected tourism, leisure and gaming group Sun International to develop and implement a marketing strategy for The Blue Train luxury train service. The agreement with Sun International was signed on September 8 and will run for up to ...
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NewsBenin – Niger railway agreement signed
AFRICA: Bolloré Group has signed a concession agreement with the two governments for the construction and operation of a railway from Cotonou in Benin to Niamey in Niger. The project involves rehabilitation of the metre-gauge Cotonou – Parakou line, and the construction of a 574 km extension. ‘This is ...
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NewsISR freight locomotives delivered
ISRAEL: The first two of six GT26CW-2 diesel locomotives which are being built for Israel Railways by TZV Gredelj were unloaded at the port of Kishon near Haifa on August 5. TZV Gredelj is subcontractor to US firm National Railway Equipment for the 50m shekel order, which was placed through ...
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NewsConstantine tram extension contract
ALGERIA: Entreprise Metro d’Alger has awarded a three-year contract to extend the Constantine tram line to a consortium of Alstom, Corsan, Corviam and Cosider. Announcing the contract on July 30, Alstom said that its share is worth €80m. The 10 km extension would take the line south from Zouaghi ...
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NewsAlgerian electro-diesel multiple-unit contract signed
ALGERIA: Alstom Transport announced the signing of a €200m contract to supply national railway SNTF with 17 Coradia Polyvalent electro-diesel multiple units on July 29. Deliveries are scheduled to begin in January 2018. The units are to be deployed on inter-city services linking Alger with destinations including Oran, ...
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NewsTanzania, Rwanda and Burundi invite interest in DIKKM railway
AFRICA: Expressions of interest in a contract to finance, design, build, operate and maintain a 1661 km railway linking the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with Burundi and Rwanda have been invited by the three countries. Known as the DIKKM railway from the initials of the main places ...
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NewsHyundai Rotem trainset in service in Cairo
EGYPT: The first Hyundai Rotem trainset on Cairo metro Line 1 has entered passenger service. This is four weeks ahead of the original schedule, as the National Authority for Tunnels was sufficiently satisfied with the results of test running, which started in March. The NAT signed an E£2·16bn contract ...
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NewsAlger metro extends
ALGERIA: On July 4 Prime Minister Abdelmalek Sellal and RATP Group President & Chief Executive Elisabeth Borne inaugurated the first extension of the Alger metro since the line opened in 2011. The 4 km eastern extension from Haï El Badr to El Harrach Centre has three stations, with a ...
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NewsNRE locos arrive in Abidjan
CÔTE D'IVOIRE: The first two of six GT26 diesel locomotives being supplied from the USA by NRE were unloaded at the Port of Abidjan on June 24. The remaining four are scheduled to arrive by August. Bolloré Africa Logistics subsidiary Sitarail holds the concession to operate the 1 260 ...
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NewsConstruction of Gauteng rolling stock factory to begin this year
SOUTH AFRICA: Construction of a rolling stock manufacturing plant at Dunnottar is to begin in the third quarter of this year, the Gibela joint venture of Alstom (61%) New Africa Rail (9%) and Ubumbano Rail (30%) has confirmed. The plant to the southeast of Johannesburg will produce 580 of ...