Italian Libya Railways was a group of railways built in theItalian colony of Libya between the two World Wars.

TheKingdom of Italy built inItalian Libya nearly 400 km of railways with950 mm (3 ft 1+3⁄8 in) gauge.^[1]

The Italian authorities decided to give priority to the construction ofroads in Libya whenBenito Mussolini took control of the Italian colonies. After 1926 no more railways were made in Libya, but duringWorld War II the need of railways transport to the front during the war in the frontier withBritish Egypt changed this approach.

In spring 1941 the Italian government started the construction of a new railway between Tripoli^[2] andBenghazi, but by the end of 1942 all was stopped because of the Italian defeat in north Africa: only 18 km were done in Cirenaica.^[3] In the same period was started the enlargement of the "Tripoli-Zuara" until the border withTunisia (and also these works was blocked by the Italian defeat at El Alamein in November 1942).

Additionally it is noteworthy to pinpoint that an international project was studied for decades, but never done because of excessive financial difficulties:

• Italian "Transaharan railway" (Tripoli-Tchad/Camerun) between Libia and theGulf of Guinea^[4]

In Libya the first locomotives were thesteam locomotives R.401 and R.301, but the most successful were the R.302 produced innorthern Italy.

There were only five small railways:

1) Tripoli-Zuara (118 km):

2) Bengazi-Barce (108 km):

3) Tripoli-Garian (90 km):

4) Bengasi-Soluch (56 km):

5) Tripoli-Tagiura (21 km):

• 
  Tripoli Railway Station in 1940
• 
  Benghazi Railway Station in 1930
• 
  Barce Railway station in 1930
• 
  Italian Benghazi with port railways
• 
  Fiat "Littorina" passing in Cirenaica
• 
  Fiat train at Tripoli Station
• 
  Old steam train at Tripoli Station in 1920
• 
  Destruction of Benghazi station in 1943
• 
  Janzour Railway Station in 2016

• Railway stations in Libya
• History of Libya as Italian colony
• Italian colonial railways
• Italian Libya
• Eritrean Railway

• Italian Libya
• Rail transport in Libya
• History of Cyrenaica
• History of Tripolitania
• Italy–Libya relations
• 950 mm gauge railways in Libya

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• Short description matches Wikidata