Sudan to link railway network to S. Sudan and Ethiopia

January 3, 2018 (KHARTOUM) – Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir on Tuesday unveiled plans to build a railway system that links the country to landlocked Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Sudan Railways passenger train in 1964. (Photo Historical Railways Images)

“We will connect [Sudan’s] railway lines to Ethiopia,” al-Bashir said while inaugurating a new train line linking capital Khartoum to the city of Wad Madani, the capital of Sudan’s central El Gezira State.

“We also seek to link our railway to South Sudan so that it might serve as a transit hub with Kenya and Uganda, thus facilitating the movement of people and goods to those countries,” he added.

He did not, however, hint on when the project would be completed.

Ethiopia and South Sudan still depend on seaports in neighbouring states like Sudan, Djibouti, and Kenya to export their goods abroad.

(ST)