African Union of Railways

The African Union of Railways in an organisation under the auspices of the new African Union dealing with railways. It is similar to the UIC.

Overview

Africa's railways sadly are disjointed, disconnected, and generally in a state of disrepair, and often do not serve their countries well. The AUR hopes to rectify things.

Standards

Gauge

The AUR sees that conversion to a common gauge is too difficult and expensive due to the gauge muddle, but based on reports from the World Bank, does see the following gauges as preferred in the following regions:

* North - 1435mm
* South - 1067mm
* East - 1067mm (but Tanzania, Kenya, Uganda and isolated Ethiopia are 1000mm).
* West - 1000mm
* Other - 950mm Eritrea
* Scattered mining railways - 1435mm.

Several railways such as Senegal, Guinea and Tanzania have talked about conversion to standard gauge, though it remains to be seen if talk develops into action. Guinea built one new branch as standard gauge even though metre gauge is needed to take the ore to the port. Nigeria has built one short branch with dual gauge sleepers. An extension from Tanzania into Rwanda is proposed as standard gauge, though it starts at a station that is already a container transhipment Dry port. Mining railways that carry very large tonnages (>10MTPA) are generally standard gauge.

However, conspicuous by their absence, is the possibility of dual gauge, Variable gauge axles, Bogie exchange, Piggy back operation and even triple gauge.

Couplings

Couplings in use include European style buffers and chains, Meatchopper couplings of various kinds, Janney (AAR), SA3. The American Janney is the preferred coupling. Match wagons can overcome incompatibilities at the price of extra weight.

Brakes

Westinghouse air brakes and Vacuum brakes (or no continuous brakes at all) are usually fitted. Dual brakes or piped only can overcome incompatibilities. Electronically Controlled Pneumatic brakes are starting to be fitted on heavy duty trains for higher performance, and a choice has to be made between two ECP systems. Air brakes are to be preferred to Vacuum brakes because of their greater power.

Electrification

Most railways is Africa are diesel operated, but electrification where it exists it mostly conforms to the modern standard of 25 kV AC, with some obsolete systems using the older 3kVDC. Dual voltage locomotives and EMUs are proven technology.

Loading gauge

Loading gauge vary considerably, and through trains would be forced to use the most restrictive loading gauge along its route. Tunnels and bridges need to be about 1m taller to allow for Piggy back operation of trains of one gauge on the wagons of another gauge.

Axle loads

Axle loads vary considerable, depending on the strength of the track, especially the weight of the rails which are generally too light for modern traffic. A reasonable minimum rail weight is 40kg/m (80lb/yd).

Train lengths and crossing loop lengths

Crossing loops should be as long as the longest likely train, considered globally.

Because of dangers imposed by wild animals such as lions, manual control of loops turnouts is not necessarily a good idea, and some degree of automation is desirable. [ [http://books.google.com.au/books?id=JaJs5YlW-RIC&pg=PA34&lpg=PA34&dq=kenya+crossing+loop&source=web&ots=Vj_l5qW1Ek&sig=ghrrjvhTQKEVQ-gLsCp4Kgm66NU&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=6&ct=result#PPP1,M1 Lions of Tsavo] ]

Minimum radius

Limits speeds, although speeds are less important on minor branch lines. Minimum radius also affects heaviest trains, due to tendency to pull wagons off the rails and derail them.

Namibia

flagicon|Namibia Namibian railways has recently done more than talk about a link with flagicon|Angola Angola, but has built nearly 300km of such a line as at 2007. Namibia has been using Tubular Modular Track which is not gauge convertible.

Nigeria

These gauge plans may be upset by Nigeria's albeit glacial programme to convert its 1067mm gauge lines to 1435mm which would seed a standard gauge network in adjacent countries, especially those landlocked countries with no railways at all. Nigeria has installed some dual gauge concrete sleepers just in case.

Libya

Libya started in 2007 building a completely new 1435mm railway system, albeit slowly. A link across the Sahara to Central Africa, probably Nigeria, would also spur the growth of 1435mm connections, which make use of continuous access to the Middle East, Europe, and even China in the foreseeable future.

Tanzania Kenya Uganda

Tanzania, Kenya and Uganda are odd men in the 1067mm South & East zone as they use 1000mm gauge. Should they stay as they are, convert to 1067mm, convert to 1435mm, or convert to an interim Dual Gauge or Triple Gauge? Should isolated Ethiopia be added to this group?

Iron ore railways

Heavy duty iron ore railways in Africa carry so much more traffic than ordinary railways that they almost always adopt standard gauge so as to make use of proven off the shelf technology. New such lines are looming in Cameroon and Senegal. Gabon is already 1435mm. The Transguinean Railways is proposed to be standard gauge. Some standard gauge lines in Liberia are to be restored. A cape gauge line in Sierra Leone is to be converted to standard gauge

Conferences

* [http://www.africa-union.org/root/au/Conferences/Past/2006/April/SA/Apr10/Documents/AU-EXP-RT-3_I_-Rail%20Development.pdf] - a conference held in Brazzaville on 10-14 April 2006.
* [http://railwaysafrica.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=2005&Itemid=35] 35th General Assembly.

Timeline

* "Main article: Timeline of African Union of Railways"

2007

* Railway Corridors in Continent to be Connected - The UAR is set to work out modalities on how to link all railway corridors in the continent. [ http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/October_2007_in_rail_transport#_note-13 ]

Related organisations

* Northern Corridor Transit Coordination Authority
* [http://www.sararail.org/site/issues.html Southern African Railway Association]
* UNCTAD [http://r0.unctad.org/ttl/ppt-2004-11-24/tanzania.pdf]

Similar organisations

* Association of American Railroads (AAR)
* UIC

References