AU, China sign MoU for Africa's modern railway system

[John Ashworth]

AU, China sign MoU for speed rail system in major African cities

China Set To Be No. 1 Partner In Au's 50-Year Initiative

Who knows - maybe China will succeed with a Cape to Cairo rail link where the British Empire failed?!

OK, that was tongue in cheek, but this looks like a more realistic plan than past attempts to build a coherent rail network within Africa. China is already building a standard gauge railway that could potentially link Kenya, Uganda, South Sudan, Ethiopia, Djibouti, Rwanda, Burundi and eastern DRC. It's not implausible that Tanzania would see the advantages of buying into that, and given China's relationship with Sudan one could imagine the decrepit Sudanese railways being replaced with standard gauge. The Chinese are also building a railway in Nigeria. I believe Egypt, Mauritania and Tunisia already have some standard gauge, plus South Africa's Gautrain - which means that 15 out of 54 African countries have already dipped their feet into the standard gauge pot or have the potential to do so. While it's unlikely that southern Africa will ever shift from Cape Gauge, one could perhaps envisage a continent one day in the future where east, central and northern Africa were linked by a standard gauge network, including many countries which currently have no railways at all or at least no significant routes, while southern Africa maintained its comprehensive Cape Gauge coverage. There would still need to be transshipment or bogie changes between the two, but it would be a lot simpler than the current patchwork.

[John Ashworth]

Not directly related to the Chinese, but certainly to the aim of a coherent African network. Incidentally this article adds Guinea and Liberia to the list of countries which already have some standard gauge.

West Africa - New Railway Network Aims to Boost Inter-Regional Trade

[John Ashworth]

Another version of the story from Zimbabwe: http://www.channelzim.net/component/fle ... ail-system

[John Ashworth]

Add Ghana to that list!

Ghana to launch eastern rail project this year

The project involves reconstruction of the 1067mm-gauge railway, converting it to standard gauge...

[John Ashworth]

China Looking To Secure Access To Africa Via Mega Infrastructure Projects