page_title: Ethio-Djibouti Railways
section_title: Specifications
hierarchical_section_title: Ethio-Djibouti Railways / Specifications
caption_attribution_description: English: Map of Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway.Standard Ggauge Railway to open in 2016 shown in red. Small green line for the disfunctional meter gauge railway.
context_page_description: The Ethio-Djibouti Railway is a metre gauge railway in the Horn of Africa that once connected Addis Ababa to the port city of Djibouti. The operating company was also known as the Ethio-Djibouti Railways. The railway was built in 1894–1917 to connect the Ethiopian capital city to French Somaliland. During early operations, it provided landlocked Ethiopia with its only access to the sea. After World War II, the railway progressively fell into a state of disrepair due to competition from road transport.
  The railway has been mostly superseded by the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, an electrified standard gauge railway that was completed in 2017. The metre gauge railway has been abandoned in central Ethiopia and Djibouti. However, a rehabilitated section is still in operation near the Ethiopia-Djibouti border. As of February 2018, a combined passenger and freight service runs two times a week between the Ethiopian city of Dire Dawa and the Djibouti border, stopping at Dewele (passengers) and Guelile (freight). Plans were announced in 2018 to rehabilitate track from Dire Dawa to Mieso.
context_section_description: The Ethio-Djibouti Railway was based on French railway standards. The ballast bed for the rails was made by crushed stone, usually 4 centimetres in size. French steelworks supplied almost all of the rails and sleepers from 1898 to 1975, when maintenance of the railway ceased. The 2007–2012 rehabilitation program funded by the European Union set up two factories in Ethiopia, one in Dukem for steel products and one in Dire Dawa for concrete sleepers.
  Gauge: Metre gauge
  Railway total length: 784 km
  Operational length:
  1902: 311 km (Djibouti-Dire Dawa)
  1917-2004: 784 km (Djibouti-Addis Ababa)
  2004-2014: 311 km (Djibouti-Dire Dawa)
  Since 2014: 213 km (Guelile-Dire Dawa)
  Axle load:
  1898-1947: 8 tonnes
  1947-2010: 9.5-12.5 tonnes
  2012-2014: 12.5-17 tonnes
  Since 2014: 16-17 tonnes
  Rail weight:
  1898-1947: 20–25 kg/m
  1947-2010: 20-25-30 kg/m
  Since 2012: 30-36-40 kg/m
  Minimum railway curve radius:
  1898-2014: 200 meters, 150 meters at difficult locations, one curve with 100 meter
  Since 2014: 200 meters
  (ruling) gradient: 1.35% (2.7% with double-locomotive operation in difficult terrain)
  Maximum speed: 90 km/h (passenger trains), 65 km/h (freight trains)
  Operating speed: 45 km/h
  Maximum train load (freight): 300 tonnes (at a speed of 15 km/h at high railway gradients)
  Bridges, viaducts and culverts: 187 viaducts and steel bridges
  Major bridges and viaducts: Chebele viaduct (156 m long), Holhol viaduct (138 m long), Awash River bridge (151 m long, 60 m deep)
  Tunnels: One tunnel through the 'Gol du Harr' northeast of Dire Dawa (170 m long)
caption: Route of Addis Ababa-Djibouti Railway compared to the Ethio-Djibouti Railway
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