Ethio-Djibouti Railways

Ethio-Djibouti Railways
Map of the Ethio-Djibouti Railway line
Overview
Other name(s)	Franco-Ethiopian Railway
System	Heavy rail
Status	Abandoned
Termini	Addis Ababa Djibouti
Operation
Opened	First commercial service in 1901, fully completed in 1917
Technical
Line length	784 km (487 mi)
Track gauge	1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge

Ethio-Djibouti Railways (French: Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Djibouto-Éthiopien), also known as the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Enterprise, is a railway company based in the Horn of Africa. It was established in 1981 as the successor to the Franco-Ethiopian Railway, and it is jointly owned by the governments of Ethiopia and Djibouti.

The railway links Addis Ababa, the capital of landlocked Ethiopia, to the Port of Djibouti in Djibouti City. Maintenance shops along the line are located in Dire Dawa, which grew up as the railway depot for nearby Harar.

The railroad is currently abandoned between Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa. Through trains have not run since 2008. Service is available between Dire Dawa and Djibouti. The parallel Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway, a electrified standard gauge railway, began freight operations in October 2016. It was built and is operated by Chinese state-owned companies.

The single track 781 km railway has a 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 ³⁄₈ in) gauge, most of it on Ethiopian territory, and about 100 km in Djibouti. There are 187 bridges along the route, but only one tunnel at Gol du Harr, northeast of Dire Dawa.

The company is headquartered in Addis Ababa; the ministers of the Djiboutian Ministry of Equipment and Transport and the Ethiopian Ministry of Transportation and Communications are the president and vice-president of the company.