Awash–Weldiya Railway

Awash–Weldiya Railway
ETCS-2 SIL4
Highest elevation	2,250 m (7,380 ft)
Maximum incline	2.65 %
Route map Legend km elevation Weldiya–Mekelle Railway Construction Phase II (2017-2020) Lalibela Weldiya Mersa Hayk Tunnel 14 (2,033 m) Tunnel 13 (1,310 m) Tunnel 11 (317 m) Tunnel 10 (598 m) Tunnel 9 (1,840 m) Tunnel 8 (605 m) Construction Phase II (2017-2020) Construction Phase I (2015-2018) 268.4 Kombolcha Operations Centre 1,918 m Kombolcha Dry Port 263.9 Kombolcha 1,900 m Tunnel 7 (287 m) Borkena River Bridge (335 m) 216.4 Mekoy/Kemise 1,473 m Bridge 25 (320 m) Bridge 24 (658 m) Tunnel 6 (326 m) Tunnel 5 (403 m) 180.9 Karakore 1,657 m Tunnel 4 (1,536 m) Tunnel 3 (385 m) 157.9 Senbeta 1,434 m Tunnel 2 (188 m) Bridge 18 (>200 m) 120.8 Shewa Robit 1,199 m Bridge 15 (>200 m) Bridge 13 (>200 m) 78.5 Passing Loop 36.4 Amibara 780 m 1.1 Awash 898 m 0.0 Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway 906 m

The Awash–Weldiya Railway is a

The railroad's primary purpose is to connect the north of Ethiopia with the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway at the Awash junction and therefore connecting it with the world economy through the Port of Djibouti and also with the southern parts of Ethiopia with its capital, Addis Ababa.

The 392 km Awash–Weldiya Railway clearly is of strategic significance. It connects the whole north of Ethiopia with almost one-third of the Ethiopian population with the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway and with Ethiopia's lifeline, the port of Djibouti. Also, several large cities of Amhara Region are directly served by the Railway and the railway will connect Ethiopian industrial centers like Kombolcha with the world.

Route and description

The railway bypasses the up to 1200 metres deep Blue Nile canyon to the west of the railway, a canyon, which is a major blocking feature for travel between northern Ethiopia and southern Ethiopia. It also runs parallel to the densely populated eastern escarpment of the northwestern Ethiopian Highlands, as a gate to several tangential areas further west, such as Lake Tana and cities like Gondar.

The single-track railway starts at Awash at the

After Shewa Robit, the railway runs north through the rugged landscape that makes up the eastern escarpment of the Highlands of Ethiopia. The sections between Shewa Robit and Weldiya see lots of tunnels and bridges because of that. This escarpment has mostly originated from normal faulting along a dip-slip

After having passed a few towns with minor railway stations, the railway reaches its third major station with two platforms, Kombolcha. Kombolcha is a major city, as is the nearby regional capital Dessie, its twin-city a few km to the west. One is at 1800 m elevation (Kombolcha), the other at 2500 m (Dessie). Both cities serve as the second gate to the Ethiopian Highlands (after Shewa Robit), with central Ethiopian cities like Debre Markos being in reach by road further west from here. At Kombolcha, there are major infrastructural facilities for the whole railway network of Ethiopia and also a new airport just 2 km away from the railway station.

The railway continues northwards along the eastern escarpment of the Ethiopian Highlands. After another major railway station at

The railway was based in many aspects on the railway characteristics pre-defined by the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway to keep the railways interoperable. However, a few things (like the maximum slope) were adapted to the special conditions in the mountainous area.

• Gauge:
  Standard gauge
• Track length: 392 km (428 km with 25 km of station lines and 11 km service lines)
• Tunnels: 12 (6 between Awash and Kombolcha, 6 between Kombolcha and Weldiya), total length 9,830 m

During the planning stage, 14 tunnels were foreseen and numbered. Two have been scrapped (tunnels 1 and 12), but the numbering scheme remained the same. Until the tunnels will get names, the original numbering will persist and will be used.

• Bridges: 65 (including overpasses, 20 with length >100 m, longest bridge with 658 m length at 57 m depth), total length 7,165 m
• Culverts: 917, total length 41 km.
• Couplers: Janney AAR
• Brakes: Air
• Electrification:
  50 Hz
• Train protection system: ETCS-2 (SIL-4) with 12 radio towers
• Maximum vehicle loading gauge height : 5300 mm^[1]
• Target speed (passenger): 120 km/h (75 mph)
• Target speed (freight): 80 km/h (50 mph), in rugged terrain 90 km/h (56 mph)^[1]
• Maximum train load (freight): 3,000 tonnes (3,000 long tons; 3,300 short tons) gross^[2]
• Minimum railway curve radius: 1,200 m (3,900 ft) (600–800 m or 2,000–2,600 ft at difficult locations)^[2]
• Designed
  transport capacity: 10 million tonnes annually (target is 8.5 million tonnes of freight plus passenger traffic)^[3]
• Maximum gradient: 2.65 % ( 1 in 38) ^[1]
• Level crossings: permitted (no full grade separation)

The single-track section is equipped with passing loops with three lines. Often, the passing loops are present at the location of train stations. The total length of passing loops is designed to be 1100 m. The railway line is almost fully electrified. Power is transmitted to eight substations at 230 kV (3 substations) and 130 kV (5 substations). Traction power is supplied at 48 km intervals.^[1]

Directly north of Kombolcha, the railway will have a few major infrastructure elements, in particular an operations centre. There is the ERC main depot for rolling stock, the main maintenance workshops and also the main logistics center of the whole Railway Network of Ethiopia. The ERC bought a rescue train for emergency operations (e.g. a heavy rail crane for emergency operations), that will be stationed at the Kombolcha workshops. The facilities will include eight rail tracks within the operations centre which will have a size of 15.000 m².

Directly opposite to the operations centre across the railway, there is a

After the new National Railway Network of Ethiopia was considered to be constructed from 2010 on, the Awash–Weldiya Railway was second to be constructed after the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway. The railway was awarded to constructors in 2012. It then took more than two years, until 2014, before financing was secured so that construction of both railways could start in February 2015.^[3]

For this railway, the ERC was able to secure loans of US $1.165b at total costs of US $1.7b. This was facilitated through Credit Suisse.^[4] Funding was provided by a consortium of lenders, including Türk Eximbank, the Swedish National Export Credits Guarantee Board, Denmark's Export Credit Board, and Swiss Export Risk Insurance.^[5] The Turkish company Yapı Merkezi and its European subcontractors were chosen to do the work.^[6]

The railway, internally dubbed AKH Railway, was to be constructed in two phases. The section from Awash to Kombolcha, 270 km long, represented the 1st section of the railway, while the remaining 122 km to Weldiya represented the second section. A first wave of construction started on this 2nd section in 2017. For the 1st section between Awash and Kombolcha it was expected to have all 270 km of rails laid in August 2017 so that first test runs on the railway were announced. A first test run reached a speed of 100 km/h on the railway.^[7][8] However, the track laying required more work, the final track pads for the first phase of the main railway line (without counting in station and service lines) were laid in January 2018 at Awash at the junction to the Addis Ababa–Djibouti railway. In January 2019 the construction of the Awash-Kombolcha Railway Line has reached 97 percent.^[9]

The construction contract assumes costs per km of railway to be US $3.8m, which is surprisingly low for a challenging terrain with 12 tunnels; theoretical calculations led to US $7m per km in 2015.^[10] This gives rise to the speculation, that either another (and indirect) European funding plays a role or that only the first phase of the railway between Awash and Kombolcha was covered by the US $1.7b contract. In the latter case, the costs per km would rise to about US $6.3m per km, which sounds reasonable. Also, according to Yapı Merkezi, the main construction firm, the financing of the second phase between Kombolcha and Weldiya hasn't been fully secured by August 2017 and construction works there are uncertain to some extent.^[8]

Tigray War

In October 2021 it was reported that during the Tigray War armed forces of the Tigray People's Liberation Front had looted or destroyed most of the construction equipment in Kombolcha. They also damaged part of the almost-finished railway infrastructure, such as tunnels and bridges.^[11] The disruption has thrown several thousand railway workers out of work. As of July 2022^[update] the construction site in Kombolcha was used as a camp for internally displaced persons. Nevertheless, the Ethiopian government still sees the project as a priority and intends to resume construction.^{[needs update][12]}

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Awash-Hara Gebeya Railway.

• Rail transport in Ethiopia
• East African Railway Master Plan, railway network planned to be linked with this line.
• Railway stations in Ethiopia

References