Ethio-Djibouti SGR Begins Maiden Rail Services

The Ethio-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway, the recently finished electric rail line that extends from Addis Abeba to Djibouti, started operations on Wednesday, January 3, 2018, carrying both commuters and cargo.

Commuters travelling to Djibouti will pay a 0.69 Br tariff for a kilometre, while the Corporation will charge freights 1.14 Br for a tonne, according to the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC).

The tariff was disclosed for four stations out of the 19 designated ones, including Adama and Dire Dawa, and Al-Sabeh and Nagad in Djibouti.

The rail line consumed 4.2 billion dollars to complete, of which 70pc was secured from Export-Import (EX-IM) Bank of China. Two Chinese companies – China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC) and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) – built the railway.

It has been undergoing trials under another Chinese firm, China Association of Railway Engineering Construction, for about a year from its inauguration until the end of November 2017.

Extending 756Kms from Sebeta in Ethiopia to the Port of Djibouti, the long-awaited service is expected to cut transport time for cargoes to 12 hours, from two days on trucks and transport 750,000 passengers and 7.5 million tonnes of cargo annually by the end of the second edition of the Growth & Transformation Plan (GTP II) in 2020.


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