Ethiopian Informer
ADDIS ABABA: November 3 (EI) — The Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR) has disclosed its plan to restructure its current rail transport schedule with new arrangements.
EDR Director General, Tilahun Sarka, told the Ethiopian Informer recently that the company has finalized its preparations to commence the planned arrangements for the railway’s passenger service.
According to Tilahun, as part of the new schedule, there will be an inter-city passenger service connecting Ethiopia’s capital Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa, as well as a short-distance international passenger service will be provided that will mainly connect Dire Dawa to the Red Sea nation of Djibouti, in which the passengers will be able to make their choices to take the train as per their practical needs.
Once the new arrangement takes effect, the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway will have three schedules, Addis Ababa-Djibouti, Addis Ababa-Dire Dawa, Dire Dawa-Djibouti, it was noted.
The EDR Director General also told the Ethiopian Informer that the new railway transportation arrangement is expected to offer commuters, who are traveling from the two neighboring countries, with “much-better and splendid itinerary options in their transport endeavors.”
The 752 -km Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway, which connects landlocked Africa’s second populous nation -Ethiopia to the port-nation of Djibouti, is Africa’s first fully-electrified transnational railway.
Jointly built by two Chinese companies that are China Railway Group Limited (CREC) and the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the railway commenced both passenger and freight services back in January last year.
