The first railway in Africa was built in Ethiopia. It was the brainchild of two French engineers who approached Ethiopian Emperor Menelik II in 1897 with the ambitious idea of constructing a railway to replace the six-week mule trek between Addis Ababa and the port city of Djibouti.
Ethiopia’s railway ambitions
“In 1917, the first train left Addis Ababa for Djibouti; 781 Km after two days. But [Emperor] Menelik did not see it… It was good because of the relationship with France, Belgium and Swiss.
There were six passenger trains per day and four or five freight trains per day. After that, in 1974, Ethiopia became communist. [Under the] communists there were three trains per week,” he said.
When the trains needed spare parts, Kasa said, the French government did not want to give them to Ethiopia.
At the railway worker’s club in Addis Ababa, retired Ethiopian railway workers spend the day playing pétanque.
Wase Fikru has worked on the railway all his life. Although he lamented the loss of the old railway, he was also excited about the new project.
“The railway workers must be the first to travel with this new train. I will be the first if I am alive. I love Chemins de Fer [railways], I love it. Everybody loves railway transport in Ethiopia; I gave it everything. I passed all my young age in that,” he recalled.
Ethiopia’s new railway is expected to cost close to 8 billion euros with funds coming from China, India, Brazil and Turkey. It is also expected to generate 30,000 new jobs.
The promise of Ethiopia’s railway project has captured the hearts and minds of Ethiopians. It is also expected to bring kudos back to a country that started the railway revolution.
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