Summary
Content
General Railroad Conditions
The rail network is made up of the Djibouti - Ethiopian railway linking the port city of Djibouti in the Republic of Djibouti with the Ethiopian capital city - Addis Ababa. The total length of the railway line is 781 km. The railway is owned and operated by the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Company. The company has 14 line diesel locomotives, 6 shunting locomotives, 480 freight cars. The average age of the freight cars is over 30 years. The railway is used to transport passengers and goods both domestic and international. The railway can, on average, lift 10, 000 MTN of import cargo per month.
General Rail Network Conditions
Most of the rail track between Djibouti and Dire Dawa need rehabilitation and replacement. Almost all of the bridges between Djibouti and Dire Dawa need strengthening. Lack of warehouse storage close to the Dire Dawa station requires the use of trucks to transfer stock from the train to warehouses nearby. Estimates of current railway rolling stock at 8 locomotives, 4 shunting locomotives, 429 wagons at average 40 MTN capacity, each locomotive can pull a train of about 10 wagons. Since early 2003, CDE tariffs reduced and have become competitive, even with additional handling and shunting included. Potential problems with railways are; lack of locomotive and wagon maintenance, poor availability of locomotives and coordination and communication failures.