Rail transport in Sudan
Sudan has 4,725 kilometers of narrow-gauge, single-track railways. The main line runs from Wadi Halfa on the Egyptian border to Khartoum and southwest to El-Obeid via Sannar and Kosti, Sudan, with extensions to Nyala in Southern Darfur and Wau in Western Bahr al Ghazal, South Sudan. Other lines connect Atbarah and Sannar with Port Sudan, and Sannar with Ad Damazin. A 1,400-kilometer line serves the al Gezira cotton-growing region. There are plans to rehabilitate rail transport to reverse decades of neglect and declining efficiency. Service on some lines may be interrupted during the rainy season. Statistics Total route length: 5,063 km gauge: 4,347 km gauge plantation lines: 716 km Note: the main line linking Khartoum to Port Sudan carries over two-thirds of Sudan's rail traffic Sudan Railways The main system, Sudan Railways, which was operated by the government-owned Sudan Railways Corporation (SRC), provided services to most of the country's production and consumption centers. The other line, the Gezira Light Railway, was owned by the Sudan Gezira Board and served the Gezira Scheme and its Manaqil Extension. Rail dominated commercial transport in the early years but competition from the highways increased rapidly and by 2013, 90% of inland transport in Sudan was by road. The main rail system was reorganised into two companies - the SRC which owned the physical assets of the Sudan Railways and another company which organised the operations with participation of private companies (10 private companies were reported to be running operations in different lines in 2013). History The pre-eminence of the rail system is based on historical developments that led to its construction as an adjunct to military operations, although the first line, started in 1874 by the Khedive Isma'il Pasha, from Wadi Halfa to Sarras about 54 km upstream on the East bank of the Nile River, was originally a commercial undertaking. The line did not prove to be commercially viable, and operations were stopped by the Governor-General Gordon in 1878 to reduce expenditure. In 1884, the line was extended to Akasha on the Nile by the Nile Expedition, but was destroyed by Dervishes when the Anglo-Egyptian troops withdrew to Wadi Halfa. In 1884, during the Red Sea Expedition, John Aird & Co. constructed a line from Suakin on the Red Sea inland to Otau, but it was abandoned in 1885. In May 1887, the Wadi Halfa - Saras line was extended again to Kerma, above the third cataract, to support the Anglo-Egyptian Dongola Expedition against the Mahdiyah. The line, which was poorly constructed and of little other use, was abandoned in 1905. The first segment of the present-day Sudan Railways, from Wadi Halfa to Abu Hamad on the Nile, was also a military undertaking. It was built by the British in the late 1890s, for use in General Herbert Kitchener's drive against the Mahdiyah. During the campaign, the line was pushed to Atbarah on the Nile in 1897 and, after the defeat of the Mahdiyah in 1898, was continued to Khartoum, which it reached