Sudan Military Railroad

The original plan was to construct the road directly from the former caravan terminus at Korosko, but a shorter route to Wadi Halfa was employed instead, with the link to Egypt provided by steamboat ferry.

Kitchener, however, insisted on the Cape gauge of 3 feet 6 inches (1,067 mm), the same track width that Cecil Rhodes was then laying between Kimberley and Bulawayo.

[1] In the end, with the help of some "fellahin" (Arabic for farmers) brought from Egypt, and 200 convicts who were paroled for the job, the rail line was completed.

The result of the unskilled labor force created "a fairly bumpy ride and frequent accidents — locomotives that flew off tracks and down 15-foot (4.6 m) embankments were hoisted back on the rails and continued along as if nothing had happened.

The rail line left a gap between Sellal, just south of Aswan, and Wadi Halfa, however, which was covered by a river ferry.