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KINGDOM OF ITALY'S COLONIAL RAILWAYS
The Colonial railways of Italy started with the opening in 1888 of a short section of line in Italian Eritrea, and ended in 1943 with the loss of Italian Libya after the Allied offensive in North Africa and the destruction of the railways around Italian Tripoli. The colonial railways of the Kingdom of Italy reached 1,561 km before WWII.
History
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The construction of railways in the African Italian colonies (Eritrea, Libya and Somalia) did not have, for various reasons, a great development compared to that promoted by other European countries on the same continent.Astuto. "Questioni ferroviarie africane: il problema ferroviario", p.30 The first rail lines were built mainly for war needs in the absence of efficient means of communication in the occupied territories, after the conquests of Eritrea and Libya. However, were quite limited in the first decades of occupation. In 1940 the amount of railways in operation, between Italian East Africa and Libya, amounted to 1,556 km of which, however, the 693 km of the Italian section of the Railway Djibouti-Addis Ababa were pre-existing and built by the French Empire for Ethiopia. The railways were built by Italy from the outset with little potential, because built with narrow gauge rails and with light metal type, and were never of great economic importance because isolated from the lines of neighboring states. Indeed the choice of a gauge 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in), different from the meter gauge usually used in Africa, contributed to this effect. Today most of these Italian colonial railways have disappeared: those of Somalia after the British occupation in 1941-1945. The Libyan ones were suppressed in the 1960s, but in the same decade the Eritrean railway between Asmara and Massawa was reactivated after long neglect of trafficking.
Italian colonial railways resumen
[edit]In 1940 the Italian colonial railways had 1,561 km and were the following:
| Railway name | Km | Years when built | Colony |
|---|---|---|---|
| Addis Abeba-Gibuti | 684 kmOnly Ethiopia section | 1902-1917 |  Africa Orientale Italiana (Ethiopia)
|
| Asmara-Biscia | 227 km | 1914-1932 | Africa Orientale Italiana (Eritrea)
|
| Bengasi-Soluch | 56 km | 1926 | .svg){kind=small} Italian Libya
|
| Bengasi-Barce | 108 km | 1914-1927 | Italian Libya
|
| Massaua-Asmara | 118 km | 1901-1911 | Africa Orientale Italiana (Eritrea)
|
| Massaua-Saati | 26 km | 1886-1887 | Africa Orientale Italiana (Eritrea)
|
| Mogadiscio-Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi | 113 km | 1924-1927 | Africa Orientale Italiana (Somalia)
|
| Tripoli-Tagiura | 21 km | 1912 | Italian Libya
|
| Tripoli-Vertice 31 | 90 km | 1912-1915 | Italian Libya
|
| Tripoli-Zuara | 118 km | 1912-1919 | Italian Libya
|
 ITA Ferrovie coloniali italiane (Italian colonial railways)
|
1,561 km |
Railways in Libia italiana
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In Italian Libya the first railways were created by the Italians after their conquest of Tripoli in 1911. The first section was done in 1912 from the port of Tripoli to Ain Zara, with 11 km of rails using a track gauge of 950 mm. By the end of the same year were done another 39 km until Tagiura and Zanzur.Stefano Maggi."Le ferrovie nell'Africa italiana", p.12 From May 1913 the Ferrovie dello Stato started to manage the railways, with the "Royal Law #314". In 1915 the railways in Libya had an extention of 180 km, reaching from Tripoli the cities of Zanzur/Sorman and Bivio Gheran/Henschirelabiad. After WWI were completed all the works (with the railways Stations) in the 118 km of the Tripoli-Zuara. The construction of the lines in Cyrenaica began later: the first lines were in fact only small decauville trains, a purely military track, in the Italian Benghazi and Cyrenaica area.Stefano Maggi."Le ferrovie nell'Africa italiana", p.13 Another small decauville was done around the port of Derna. http://archive.libya-al-mostakbal.org/He... Small decauville in Derna] In the fall of 1914 was opened a stretch of 19 km between Benghazi and Benina and two years after the next leg. Between 1926 and 1927 were opened other sections until Barce, completing the 108 km from Benghazi. At the end of 1926 were added 56 km of railway between Benghazi and Soluch. In the 1930s there were five small railway lines in Italian Libya, 3 in Tripolitania and 2 in Cyrenaica:
- Tripoli - Zuara; Tripoli - Vertice 31; Tripoli - Tagiura
- Benghazi - Barce; Benghazi - Soluch
The Italian authorities -after the construction of these initial 400 km of railways in five lines around Tripoli and Benghazi- decided to give priority to the construction of roads in Libya, when Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian colonies. However Italian experts studied the possibility of building a "Transaharan railway" from Libya to the gulf of Guinea in cooperation with the French authorities: but it remained only a colonial dream.Stefano Maggi."Le ferrovie nell'Africa italiana", p.22-23 After 1927 no more railways were made in Libya, but during World War II the need of railways transport to the front during the war in the frontier with British Egypt changed this approach. In 1940 was started the study of connecting the Tripoli-Zuara with the Tunisia border: in summer 1941 were nearly ready all the 60 km of this track line, that were not activated because was given priority to a new line from Tripoli toward Egypt (because of the needs for the war against the British empire).
So, in spring 1941 the Italian government started the construction of a new railway (with a standard African track gauge of 1435 mm) between Tripoli and Tobruk, but by December 1942 all was stopped because of the Italian defeat in north Africa: of the 1040 km only 18 km were fully done in Tripolitania, while 40 km were partially ready in Cirenaica from Barce toward Derna. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se... Le ferrovie coloniali italiane in Libia (in Italian)] In summer 1942 was conquered by the Italians (with Rommel's Afrika Korps) the railways line built by the British and New Zealanders http://nzetc.victoria.ac.nz/tm/scholarly... New Zealand Engineers; the Western Desert Railway units] from Egypt until Tobruk, near the Egyptian-Libyan border. But a few months later the Marsa Matruk-Sollum-Tobruk line was back in Allies control. http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se... Western Desert railway] Until the 1950s the railways remained active. But by the 1960s there were only two small railways in Libya, departing from Benghazi and using classical Littorine: Benghazi-Barce and Benghazi-Soluch. In 1965 the last remaining stations in Benghazi and Soluch were closed. Today no active railway exists in Libya.
Railways in Eritrea italiana
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The railway in Italian Eritrea was built in two times: the first line in the 1880s from Italian Massaua to the Saati forts and successively in the early 1900s was built the line until Italian Asmara and Cheren-Bishia. http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/cartoline.... Italian Postal cards of the Eritrean Railway] The first railway line was started in early 1887 and completed the next March: it was made of 27 km between the port of Massawa and the military fortifications of Saati, in coastal Eritrea. It was a purely military line -with a track gauge of 950 mm- built in support of the campaign against the Abyssinia kingdom. The defeat of Adua was even attributed by various military specialists to the lack of supplies, as emphasized by the general Oreste Baratieri. As a consequence the neo Governor Ferdinando Martini demanded the extension of the line to Asmara because of its importance for the logistics control of the colony and—because he did not obtain adequate answers from the Italian Government- he did the work with limited finances and in small steps. So in 1900 was started the construction of the second -and main- line toward Asmara and western Eritrea. Indeed the railroad at the end of 1901 from Saati came to Mai Atal and in September 1904 to Ghinda. In March 1910 was inaugurated the stretch up to Nefasit and finally, in December 1911 what remained up to Asmara. For the continuation until Cheren it was needed to wait until July 1922, and to February of 1928 in order to reach Agordat. In March 1932 was reached the small town of Bishia and here the construction was halted permanently when at 351 km away from Massawa.Stefano Maggi."Le ferrovie nell'Africa italiana", p.7-8 The line was placed under the management of the Ferrovie Eritree ("FE"), supervised by the Italian "Ministero delle Colonie". FE used the trains with steam traction and even the locomotives Mallet built by Ansaldo. http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/foto_stori... Historical photos of the Eritrean railway and of the locomotives] In 1935 were put into service two petrol/gasoline railcars "Littorina" and then the (state-of-the-art) type Railcar ALn 56 Fiat.Nico Molino. "Littorina", p.26-27
According to some projects made in 1939, the line should have been divided at Elit near Bishia, reaching with a branch Tessenei (and then go to the Anglo-Egyptian Sudan border) and with the other branch go to Om Ager on the border with Ethiopia. The railway station and the "terrain line" was prepared in Tessenei but never saw the tracks; tensions with Britain followed the war in Ethiopia (1935–36) and led to the decision, as a purely military matter, of not to bring the line at the border. But this decision had harmful effects on the development of agricultural colonies already implanted in the area. Plans were made to activate the route from Bishia until Tessenei and Kassala when conquered by the Italian Army in summer 1940, but the Allies conquest of Italian Eritrea in early 1941 blocked it. The section Agordat-Bishia was demolished during World War II by the British military, who reused the rails to arm a provisional military line, with a British gauge of 1076 mm, between Walka (inside Sudan and near Kassala) and Tessenei. There was even one small railway with 600 mm track gauge, used only for commercial transport (and for military services): the Mersa Matuma-Kululi.
- Mersa Matuma-Kululi: Nearly 90 km south of Massaua was built the so called "Potash Transport Railway". It was a 42 kilometres (26 mi) long 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) gauge potash transport railway"Building the line". Retrieved 24 March 2009. built to serve the locations Adaito and Badda, located between Massawa and Assab. A decauville gauge line was built in 1905 by the Italians inside the port of Mersa Fatuma and from it into the hinterland until Kululi (called "Colulli" in Italian) near the Ethiopian border. http://robevan.xoom.it//robevan/mappe/ao... Map of Italian Eritrea in 1936 with detailed railway route to Kululi (click on sections 4 and 7)] Potash production is said to have reached about 50,000 metric tons after this railway was constructed.
Railways in Somalia italiana
[edit]Despite various projects, dating back to the late 1900s, the first railway was authorized only in 1918 and led to the construction of a small section starting in Italian Mogadishu, which stopped -after just 29 km and 6 years of work- in Afgooye. The single track railway had a 950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) narrow gauge, as established in 1879 by an Italian law on minor gauges.
The continuation was realized only in accordance with the needs of transportation of an agricultural colonial society that had been formed by Prince Luigi Amedeo of Savoy-Aosta, who founded the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi, a big agricultural settlement for the cultivation of bananas, cotton and sugar cane. For this purpose it was needed a form of transport for the shipment of the goods to the port of Mogadishu: https://mogadishuimages.files.wordpress.... Map showing the railway station of Mogadiscio in 1935] in September 1927 were opened the remaining 84 km of the Mogadishu-Villabruzzi Railway from the port of Mogadiscio to the Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi.
The railway in 1930 moved 19,359 passengers, and was used by the Italian authorities even for tourism. http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/Fiat%20Tib... "Ferrovie Somale" postcard] In the same year 43,467 tons of products (mainly agricultural) were transported, with earnings up to 1,591,527 Somali lira. Most products transported were bananas, cotton and coffee, from farm plantations of the area of Villabruzzi, to be exported through the port of Mogadishu. Ferrovie Somale, a government company, administered the line. During WWII the tracks and the stations were heavily bombed by the Allies. In 1941, the railway was dismantled by British troops when they occupied Italian East Africa (Africa Orientale Italiana in Italian). Since then the railway, except for a few tracks within the Mogadiscio harbour, was no longer used. In 1942 some diesel locomotives and related materials were moved by the British Government to Eritrea, to be used on the Massawa-Asmara railway. http://www.ferroviaeritrea.it/locomotiva... Photos of a Diesel "Tibb" Fiat locomotive moved from Somalia to Eritrea] These trains were in activity until the early 1950s. There were even two small railways with 600 mm track gauge, used only for commercial transport and for military services: the Villabruzzi-Ferfer and the Genale-Afgoi.
- Villabruzzi-Ferfer. A small 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) gauge railway of 250 km was constructed between Villabruzzi and the Somalia-Ethiopia border in order to solve the logistical problems related to the occupation of Ethiopia. In 1928-1936, the track was initially built in sections until Buloburde. The first railway section was 130 km long. It started in Bivio Adalei of the Mogadishu-Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi railway. In summer 1940, at the beginning of the Second World War, the line was extended by the Italian army by about 150 km. The railway now reached Ferfer, near the present-day Somalia-Ethiopia border. http://mogadishuimages.files.wordpress.c... Map of Italian Somalia showing the decauville from Bivio Adalei toward Ethiopia border (red line continuous is the Mogadiscio-Villabruzzi railway)] Somali troops from the First and Second Somali divisions of the Italian colonial army helped during the construction.
- Genale-Afgoi. In 1924, a minor railway was built in the same region. It had a small track in 600 mm gauge, Genale-Afgoi. The railway was 46 km long and united the farming settlement of Genale with Afgoi on the Mogadishu-Villagio Duca degli Abruzzi route. Construction was managed by the Società Agricola Italo Somala (SAIS), which opened the track so that its plantations' powered sugar cane could be transported to the Mogadishu Port.
Railways in Etiopia italiana
[edit]The most important line in the African colonies of the Kingdom of Italy, the Djibouti-Addis Ababa long 784 km, was acquired following the conquest of the Ethiopian Empire by the Italians in 1936.
It was a railway with a standard meter gauge that had been built between the 1897 and 1917 by Emperor Menelik II with the decisive contribution of the French capital and that was managed by a French company, the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer Franco-Ethiopien ("CFE"). The route was served by steam trains that took about 36 hours to do the total trip between the capital of Ethiopia and the port of Djibouti. Following the Italian conquest was obtained in 1938 the increase of speed for the trains with the introduction of four railcars high capacity "type 038" derived from the model Fiat ALn56 http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/ph... Fiat ALn56 "Littorina"] (called "Automotrice ZZ-AB 1-4"Molino,Pautasso, tab.p.88). These diesel trains were able to reach 70 km/h and so the time travel was cut in half to just 18 hours: they were used until the mid 1960s. http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/ph... Image of a Fiat ALn56 in 1964 Addis Abeba station] At the main stations there were some bus connections to the other cities of Italian Ethiopia not served by the railway. http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/ph... Dire Dawa bus connection to Harrar] Near the Addis Ababa station was created a special unit against fire, that was the only one in all Africa. http://www.storiavvf.it/Articolo%20Addis... "Pompieri ad Addis Abeba" (in Italian)]
In 1936, during the occupation of Ethiopia, the Italians considered the construction of new routes from Addis-Ababa running as follows: Addis-Ababa, Dessie, Adigrat, Massawa: covering 1000 km; Addis-Ababa, Dessie, Assab - Dessie, Gondar, Om, Ager; Addis-Ababa, Megheli, Dollo, Mogadishu. All these projects had to be abandoned due to war operations. Jean Pierre Crozet
Projects of connecting to the Eritrean railway network did not found practical realization in 1939. In the same year was studied the possibility of connecting the Ethiopian station of Dire-Dawa to the port of Assab in southern Eritrea, in order to bypass the French Somaliland. Until 1937 there was a protective military unit in the trains, because of the ethiopian guerrilla http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/ph... Photo of Italian soldiers defending the ethiopian railway trains] In spring 1941, following the surrender of Gondar and the abandonment of the colony by the Italians, the line passed to be managed by the British Armed Forces and later -with the return of the Negus- the railway went back to the "CFE".
Locomotives
[edit]In 1912 were moved to the just occupied Tripoli 12 "Locomotives R.401", built in Germany by "Berliner Maschinenbau A.G. Schwartzkopff".Nico Molino, "Littorina", p.50
After WWI 9 "Locomotives R.301" arrived in Libya (5 in Tripolitania and 4 in Cyrenaica), while another 2 arrived in Eritrea and 2 in Somalia. In the 1930s were sent to the Eritrean Railways a group of 12 Ansaldo "Locomotives R.440", some still used today. In Eritrea there were even the small "Locomotives R.202", built by "Costruzioni Meccaniche Breda" of Milano: 2 are still in use. In order to improve the passenger service in the late 1930s were sent to the African colonies the Littorine Fiat (of the same type that developed in the record-famous FS Class ETR 200): in Eritrea arrived 11 of these modern trains (9 were the diesel model FE A.62-70), while in Libya arrived 8 of the huge capacity model FI 040 (5 in Tripolitania and 3 in Cyrenaica). In Etiopia were sent in 1938 four passenger-locomotives high capacity "Fiat Diesel 038", derived from the model Fiat ALn56 (officially named "ZZ-AB 1-4").Nico Molino. "Linee Ferroviarie: Littorina", p.33-34 In the Ethiopian railway were even used the original steam http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/li... Listing of steam locomotives in Ethiopia] and diesel http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/li... Listing of Diesel locomotives in Ethiopia] locomotives found when conquered the country in 1936. The Italian "Garatt Ansaldo" locomotives were added in 1939. http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/di... Various locomotives in Ethiopian railways] In late 1940 arrived in Libya the state-of-the-art locomotive Fiat/Ansaldo FS Class ALn 772, that used diesel and electricity power. It was supposed to be working on the Benghazi-Barce railway, but was captured after a few weeks of use by the British during their Operation Compass and sent away to be studied by Allied experts.Francesco Ogliari. "Le ferrovie coloniali italiane in Africa", p.62-63
Notes
[edit]Bibliography
[edit]- Astuto, Riccardo. Questioni ferroviarie africane, in "Rassegna economica dell'Africa italiana",Vol.XXIX. Roma, 1941
- Basuyau, Vincent. Le chemin de fer de Djibouti à Addis Abeba (Mémoire de DEA). Université de Paris I-Panthéon Sorbonne. Paris, 1991
- Crozet, Jean Pierre. The Franco Ethiopian and Djibouto Ethiopian railway Detailed Website on the Addis Abeba-Djibouti railway ( http://www.train-franco-ethiopien.com/hi...])
- Gatti, G. Le ferrovie coloniali italiane. Ed. GRAF. Roma, 1975
- Maggi, Stefano. Ferrovie e stazioni nelle colonie italiane (in "Architettura ferroviaria in Italia. Novecento"). Ed. Dario Flaccovio. Palermo, 2004, pp. 129–138. ISBN 88-7758-597-8.
- Maggi, Stefano. Le ferrovie nell’Africa italiana: aspetti economici, sociali e strategici, seminario "Nineteenth century transport history. Current trends and new problems".Istituto Universitario Europeo, Fiesole, 20 maggio 1994 http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/se...]
- Molino, Nico & Pautasso, Sergio. Le automotrici della prima generazione. Ed.Elledi. Torino, 1983. ISBN 88-7649-016-7
- Molino, Nico. Linee Ferroviarie. Littorina in "Mondo Ferroviario # 55". Editoriale del Garda, Rivoltella, 1991.
- Ogliari, Francesco. Le ferrovie coloniali italiane in Africa (in "Tutto TRENO & Storia", n. 4, 2000, p. 46-69). Duegi Editrice, Albignasego, 2000.
See also
[edit]Italian colonial empire Category:Italian Empire