Railway transport in Somalia consisted of the erstwhileMogadishu–Villabruzzi Railway and secondary tracks. The system was built during the 1910s by the authorities inItalian Somaliland. Itstrack gauge was950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in), a gauge favoured by the Italians in their colonies in theHorn of Africa andNorth Africa. The railway was dismantled in the 1940s by the British during their military occupation of Italian Somaliland, and was subsequently never rehabilitated.
The 114 km of theMogadishu-Villabruzzi Railway (called in Italia "Ferrovia Mogadiscio-Villabruzzi") was the first railway inItalian Somaliland. It was built initially for the surrounding area ofMogadishu (Mogadiscio inItalian) afterWorld War I. According to the initial project -done in the early 1910s- the railway should have reachedLugh from Mogadishu, but economical problems due to the expenses related toWW1 stopped the construction of the railway to a few dozen km of line from the port ofItalian Mogadiscio.
In the 1920s,PrincipeLuigi Amedeo, Duca degli Abruzzi, a senior member of theItalian Royal Family, had the railway extended to theShebelle River agricultural settlements that he was then developing. The railway reached Villabruzzi (Jowhar) in 1927.[1]
In 1930, the railway transported 19,359 passengers, including tourists. During the same year, 43,467 tons of products (mainly agricultural) were transported, with earnings up to 1,591,527Somali lira. Most products transported were bananas, cotton and coffee from farm plantations in the Villabruzzi area, which were later exported through thePort of Mogadishu.
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 ofGenale 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.
In 1939, the Italian leaderBenito Mussolini planned a rail connection between Mogadishu andAddis Ababa, after the Italian conquest ofEthiopia. However,World War II brought an end to theItalian Empire and consequently aborted the project.
A small600 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 conquest and occupation of Ethiopia. In 1928-1936, the track was initially built in sections untilBuloburde. The first railway section was 130 km long. It started in Bivio Adalei of the Mogadishu-Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi railway.
During the war campaign against Ethiopia this stretch of decauville line developed parallel to the road. It operated with small oil-fired locomotives, but allowed the transport of a large amount of materials to the Ogaden front and it remained at the service of agricultural activities even after the end of the military operations in mid 1936[2]
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 reachedFerfer, near the present-day Somalia-Ethiopia border. Somali troops from the First and Second Somali divisions of the Italian colonial army helped during the construction.[3]
| Name | Distance | Altitude | Image |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mogadishu[4] | 0 km (0.0 mi) | 0 m (0 ft) | [5] |
| Bridge over theShebelle River | 30 km (18.6 mi) | 18 m (59 ft) | [6] |
| Afgooye | 50 km (31.1 mi) | 64 ft (20 m) | |
| Adale | 66 km (41.0 mi) | 78 m (256 ft) | |
| 80 km (49.7 mi) | 88 m (289 ft) | ||
| Moico | 90 km (55.9 mi) | 91 m (299 ft) | |
| Bridge over theShebelle River | 111 km (69.0 mi) | 96 m (315 ft) | [7] |
| Villaggio Duca degli Abruzzi (modern dayJowhar) | 114 km (70.8 mi) | 108 m (354 ft) |
Railway Stations in Somalia, with the exception of that of the capitalMogadiscio,[8] were very simple, often simple wood structures without passenger services. Some structures of Mogadiscio station were dismantled by the British duringWWII and sent toIndia.
The railway ofSomalia italiana connected the capital cityMogadishu withAfgooye, and subsequently after 1929 withVillaggio Duca degli Abruzzi -called usually Villabruzzi (present-dayJowhar). The line in the early 1930s was served mainly by FIAT-TIBB diesel machines.[9] The line and the stations were built by theItalians, but were later dismantled byBritish troops duringWorld War II.[10]
.png)
