A 392km (250mi) rail link running from central Awash, Ethiopia, north to Hara Gebeya, is soon to be completed. Begun in 2015, the project had been judged “near” completion in 2020, when the onset of the Tigray War not only interrupted progress but led to looting of copper wire and other components of the existing work. Although not part of the current project, long term plans call for a short, 100km extension of this line to Mekele, the capital city of the Tigray region. According to a May 19 posting by Construction Review, the line will now be inspected before opening to service.
While short by rail standards, the segment adds to the growing total of SGR lines appearing across east Africa under the East Africa Rail Project. With major lines already in place or under construction in Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, Burundi and Rwanda, the EARP foresee a future 1,000km connection linking Addis Abada, Ethiopia to a new, 1,000km Northern Corridor line to be built in Kenya, and an 800km line from Kasese, in western Uganda, westward deep into the DRC, terminating at Kisangani, a port city on the Congo River.
