In 2007, the Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) was formed as a subsidiary of the country’s ministry of transport & communications, with a paid-up capital of $US750 million. Its mandate is to build a national railway as well as an urban light rail network in the capital, Addis Abeba. The main task of the national system would be to support Ethiopia’s agricultural sector, specifically the moving of export grain and livestock. However, it is also intended to provide “high-speed, high-capacity, competitive and affordable” transport for passengers. ERC director Dr Getachew Betru envisages a standard gauge network, electrified with power drawn from hydroelectric resources. (Betru also serves on the board of the Ethiopian Electric Power Corporation.)

In the meanwhile, work continues on rehabilitating the 781km metre-gauge Chemin de fer Djibouti-Ethopien (CDE – the Djibouti-Ethiopian Railway). The 18-month project is being funded by a grant of €50 million from the European Union. Train services at the western end of the line, including the approach into Addis Abeba, are currently suspended to facilitate the work, which is being undertaken by Costa of Italy and Ineco-SPT of Spain. According to CDE general manager To’om Terie, the line’s capacity is expected to rise to ten trains per day.

Work is currently concentrated around Metahara, where embankments are being strengthened and new bridges built. Approximately 25,000 concrete sleepers are being laid to replace steel, and the remaining 20kg/m rail is being replaced by 40kg/m on about a third of the route. The project is reportedly running three months behind schedule due to some track alignments were miscalculated.

India’s Overseas Investment Alliance (OIA), which has been supplying electrical transmission and distribution systems to EEPCo in terms of a 2006 contract worth $US65m, signed an agreement with the government of neighbouring Djibouti in May 2009 to undertake feasibility studies for a standard-gauge line from the harbour – which functions as the main port for Ethiopia.

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