2024-08-12 22:05:08
The Tana East Coast Railway is a 380km line connecting the large port of Tamatave with the capital Antananarivo on the plateau. Elevation gain: 1,250m. This is a real journey to haul hundreds of tonnes of bananas, grain or fuel every day on a railway built in the early 20th century.
Report from our correspondent in Antananarivo:
« Hello, this is Tamatave station. Requesting permission to send train 184 to Ambila A train was about to leave the port town of Tamatave. Madagascarreturning with 24 tank cars filled with fuel. In the railway traffic control room in Antananarivo, regulators from Madagascar’s railway concessionaire, Madararail, are authorizing the fleet.
An average of six trains a day use this legendary railway, which crisscrosses the country with steep terrain and remote villages. Railway Line It is the only solution to open up areas with high fruit and vegetable production. Most of the country’s brewing industry also passes through it. Finally, 40% fuel Imported goods first pass through this railway and then are redistributed across the island.
More profitable and safer
Twenty hours after leaving the port of Tamatave, the train entered the capital. Children jumped on both sides of the track, and pots, pans and clothes hanging on the track were hurriedly removed to unload the cargo at the storage tank.
« From a logistics perspective, current rail transport can meet three main criteria: safety, volume and availability.“It is a very important part of our business,” explains Tolotra Ranaijaona, transport manager at Petroleum Logistics, a company specialising in the transport and storage of petroleum products and one of Madarail’s largest customers. The railways give us the assurance that we will always have complete security of supply ».
In fact, considering the state of disrepair of National Road 2, which connects Tamatave to Tanna, it is unthinkable to transport all the fuel via the road network, logistics experts reveal. Another major advantage is its highly competitive cost: up to 30% cheaper than road transport.
Lack of locomotives and wagons
However, Patrick Claes, chairman of the board of Madagascar’s railway concessionaire, Madarail, explained that with only 200,000 tonnes transported last year, the rail service is still operating well below its potential:
« We have Unfortunately, the transportation discounts are not enough to meet all the demand. One of the big problems with the railways today is that we don’t have enough traction capacity, we don’t have enough locomotives or wagons. We have a $130 million investment plan that was agreed with the state government in 2020, for which the state government is looking to mobilize funds for the infrastructure and artwork components, and we have also put the private equity restructuring of the company on hold. Of course, the routes of the network date back to the beginning of the last century, but with a certain amount of work, it actually has the capacity to absorb a million tonnes a year.. »
The rail network, a veritable umbilical cord between Tana and the country’s largest port, was held hostage for a decade due to civil wars between politicians and businessmen. However, in a country where the road network is abandoned, it is an economic and ecological alternative that deserves better consideration.
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