Rail transport in Sudan
The main line runs from Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border to Khartoum and southwest to El-Obeid via Sennar and Kosti, with extensions to Nyala in Southern Darfur and Wau in Western Bahr al Ghazal, South Sudan.
[4][5] The history of rail transport in Sudan began in 1874[6] when the Khedive of Egypt Isma'il Pasha established a line from Wadi Halfa to Sarras about 54 km upstream on the east bank of the Nile, as a commercial undertaking.
[8] In May 1887, the Wadi Halfa-Saras line was extended again to Kerma, above the third cataract, to support the Anglo-Egyptian Dongola Expedition against the Mahdist State.
[8] In 1906, the new line reached the recently built Port Sudan to provide a direct connection between Khartoum and ocean-going transport.
[8] In the north, a branch line was built from near Abu Hamad to Karima that tied the navigable stretch of the Nile between the fourth and third cataracts into the transport system.
[12] It included extension of the western line to Nyala (1959) in Darfur Province, and a southwesterly branch to Wau (1961), southern Sudan's second largest city, located in Bahr el Ghazal.
The losses were attributed to various factors including, inflation, the lack of spare parts, the company's headquarters being located in Atbara rather than in Khartoum, the continuation of certain lines having only light traffic.
The 1980s also saw a steady erosion of tonnage as a result of a combination of inefficient management, union stubbornness, the failure of agricultural projects to meet production goals, a lack of spare parts and the continuing civil war.
[18] During the civil war in the south (1983–2005) military trains went as far as Aweil accompanied by large numbers of troops and militia, causing great disruption to civilians and humanitarian aid organisations along the railway line.
Implementation of much of this work was hampered by political instability in the 1980s, debt, the lack of hard currency, the shortage of spare parts, and import controls.
[20][21] In 2015 al-Bashir promised to modernise and upgrade the Sudanese railways with Chinese funds and technical assistance[22] after years of poor administration and neglect.
The African Development Bank has offered a $75m grant towards the cost while China State Construction Engineering and several Gulf firms are reported to be interested in becoming involved with the project.
As the size of the project area increased, the railway was extended and by the mid-1960s consisted of a complex system totalling 716 route km.
The Tokar–Trinkitat Light Railway was built in 1921 and 1922 at 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge and was 29 km long,[23] primarily used for the export of the cotton crop from Tokar.
[27] But in 2014 it was reported that although Sudan and Chad had agreed to stop supporting rebels in each other's countries, the US$2 billion project had still not been signed nor started.
The two-year study will assess the railway's technical, economic, environmental and social challenges, including the possibility of procuring it as a public–private partnership.
