AfroRailwatch:Libya W-E & N-S links

[Nightowl]

For those of you interested I've also put together a small website representing the Alexandria Egypt trams. Take a peek at:

http://www.geocities.com/alextracks

[admin]

That is marvelous! I will post the link on the front page on Monday. Thanks!

[admin]

I just realized Nightowl is the guy who make the webpages on The Songkhla Bullet (http://www.geocities.com/songkhla.geo/SONGKHLA.html) and The Smuggler's Express (http://www.geocities.com/songkhla.geo/SMUGGLER.html).

His main page is here-> http://www.geocities.com/songkhla.geo/

[jpatokal]

Ooh -- I've actually ridden on this thing! As the article says, it's painfully slow and very far from a modern light rail system... but it works, usually, and at 25 piasters (less than 2B) a ride, who can complain?

[Nightowl]

A modern light rail system is not what the Alexandria systems are. Part of the system is traditional street running trams winding through crowded city streets. The other, the Victoria Line, resembles a S-bahn except that it is very slow, has very few separated grade crossings and has no priority on any street crossings.

Yes, I wrote the Songkhla Bullet, Last Train to Haadyai, and Smugglers' Special relating my experiences in Thailand 1973-75. I also made many trips between Haadyai and Khrung Thep as well as several between Khrung Thep and Chaingmai.

[GWR]

First Featured frontpage.
Great site for affirming some of the more positive aspects of Human Nature.
Good Pictures from the International Herald Tribune:-
http://www.iht.com/slideshows/2005/02/15/travel/web.0215eritrea.php

Eritrean Railway and Ropeway (Unofficial) Web Site:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/
Steam Train on the Massawa Causeway:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/where/massawa/zeibel_07.jpg
Rob Dickinson's (Robchina on 2Bkk) Overall Map of the Original Eritrean Railway Network:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/who/rob_dickinson/eritmap.gif
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/who/rob_dickinson/eritmap.gif

ER & R Table of Contents:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/table-of-contents/er-ry-ry-site-map.htm
Scrapbook:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/scrpbook.html
Map Page:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/where/maps/map_page.html
Various Maps (from above page) showing the route of the railway:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/where/maps/massawamapa.jpg
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/where/maps/eritrean_map.jpg
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/where/maps/eritrean_map.jpg
Track Altitude Profile:-
http://www.trainweb.org/eritrean/scrapbook/where/profile_line/prflline.html

[GWR]

http://home.planet.nl/~hans.mebrat/eritrea.jpg

These map are part of the following informative site on Eritrea:-
http://home.planet.nl/~hans.mebrat/eritrea-massawa.htm

http://home.planet.nl/~hans.mebrat/eritrea-map5.gif

[ncr]

Fascinating stuff about the railway and cablecar ("Tramway").

From http://www.trainweb.org/italeritrea/tramway.htm:

As proof of the feasibility of the project, they pointed to a 40km (25 mi.) three-cable tramway between Granada and the port of Motril in Spain and a similar 60 km (37 mi.) tramway in Indochina.What is the author alluding to? Anyone ever heard anything about this 60-km cablecar in Indochina?

[ncr]

Soem screenshots from Google Earth, with the railway line in purple:

1 (http://tinypic.com/df8rhh.jpg) - 2 (http://tinypic.com/df8rpd.jpg) - 3 (http://tinypic.com/df8rrq.jpg) - 4 (http://tinypic.com/df8rvn.jpg) - 5 (http://tinypic.com/df8rwl.jpg)

They show very nicely the impressive height difference and pronounced escarpment between the coast at Massawa and Asmara (note: 3x vertical exaggeration).

[Yappofloyd]

Khun ncr, this is great work. There is an Eritrean guy in the UN mission here who says that the railway is an amazing experience. After looking at these screenshots and the IHT photos, I am very keen to try it out sometime soon whilst I am in this part of the world.

[GWR]

Sunday, 9 December, 2001, 12:56 GMT
Libya unveils railway project
By the BBC's Frank Gardner

Libya looks set to become the final link in a vast railway network connecting the whole of North Africa.

Speaking in the capital Tripoli, an unnamed Libyan official has told the local press that the country is proposing to build two tracks, running east to west and north to south.

The first line will run along the Mediterranean coast, linking Libya's western border with Tunisia with its eastern border with Egypt.

The second will run southwards through the Sahara desert, linking Libya with Chad and Niger.

Reaching out

It is an ambitious scheme, but Libya has already proved its ability to take on such vast projects.

Great Manmade River canal
Libya calls its river 'the eighth wonder of the world'
At the cost of billions of dollars, its so-called Great Manmade River project has piped underground water from deep beneath the Sahara up to the coastal plain.

The official did not reveal the cost or time frame of the railway project.

Since UN sanctions were suspended nearly three years ago, Libya has been trying to shake off its former reputation as a pariah state and to reach out to the outside world.

The country's leader Colonel Gaddafi was one of the first Arab rulers to express sympathy for the victims of the attacks on America on 11 September.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1700241.stm

Chinese firm wins big Libyan railway contract
Tuesday, February 19, 2008
AFP

SHANGHAI -- A Chinese contractor has won bids to build two railways in Libya worth a combined US$2.6 billion as China enhances its economic presence in energy-rich African nations, state media said Monday. Under one contract, China Railway Construction Corp., the firm that built part of the controversial rail to Tibet, would construct a 352-kilometre (220-mile) west-to-east coastal railway, the Xinhua news agency reported
http://www.chinapost.com.tw/china/2008/02/19/143513/Chinese%2Dfirm.htm

See also MiddleEast RailWatch:
http://www.angkor.com/2bangkok/2bangkok/forum/showthread.php?p=23259#post23259