No, Senegal will not be the first sub-Saharan country with electric
trains
A minister and adviser to Senegal’s President Macky Sall told viewers
on New Year’s Eve that a new train service the government is planning
will be the first modern electric train in sub-Saharan Africa. The
claim is wrong.
Researched by Assane Diagne
Senegalese President Macky Sall gives a press conference on the
opening day of the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change
in November 2015 in Paris, France. Photo: AFP/THOMAS SAMSON
Speaking on live TV on 31 December, just moment’s after the
traditional New Year’s Eve address by Senegal’s President Macky Sall,
one of his ministers and advisers told viewers that a new train
service the government is planning will be “the first electric train”
in sub-Saharan Africa.
Referring to the long-awaited project, Benoit Sambou, told the
independent Walfadjri TV-radio station: “The Regional Express Train
(TER) will be the first electric train in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
It was an odd claim to make. Was the minister right? Or was he simply,
as politicians often do, exaggerating the government’s performance
compared to other countries on the continent?
Where is the evidence?
President Sall told the nation that the construction work on the TER
project will start later this year: “The TER will serve 14 stations
and will be able to transport up to 115,000 passengers per day,
bringing them in less than 45 minutes from Dakar to Blaise Diagne International Airport” – 41 kilometres from Dakar.
Africa Check contacted, Sambou who reiterated the claim he had made on television. Asked for evidence he told us to speak to officials at the transport ministry.
Could the claim be correct? To know, we had just to take a look around
the continent.
What about the Gautrain?
Passengers wait to get on the Gautrain, Africa's first high-speed rail
line, on August 2, 2011 in Pretoria. South Africa's first high-speed
train made today its first trip between economic hub Johannesburg and
capital city Pretoria. Gautrain's first leg, a link between
Johannesburg and OR Tambo International Airport, opened last year on
June 8, three days before the city hosted the opening match of the
2010 World Cup. Gautrain, a $3.8 billion high-speed railway, can
travel at speeds of 160 kilometres (100 miles) an hour, enabling
commuters to make the trip from Sandton to Pretoria in 27 minutes.The
same trip takes about 45 minutes by car with normal traffic, and can
take two hours or more during rush hour. Local officials expect more
than 100,000 passengers a day, mainly car commuters wanting to escape
the region's notorious traffic. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
/ STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
We started in South Africa. Long before the first shovel bites the
ground in Dakar on the TER project, authorities in the Gauteng
province, the country’s economic heart, had completed work on a high
tech electric train, known as the Gautrain.
Linking the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, with the country’s
main airport and its political capital, Pretoria, the Gautrain started operating in June 2010, just before the kick off the FIFA World Cup.
Since then, the Gautrain, which has been designed to be able to run on
both electricity and regular fuel, has become a regular means of
transport used by thousands of travellers and commuters every day.
What about the Addis Ababa Light Railway?
Passengers enjoy their first ride on Ethiopia's new tramway on
September 20, 2015 in Addis Abada. Sub-Saharan Africa's first modern
tramway opened in the Ethiopian capital on September 20, marking the completion of a massive Chinese-funded infrastructure project hailed
as a major step in the country's economic development. Even before the
ribbon was cut, several hundred residents were queueing for a ride on
the Chinese-driven trams, which have the capacity to carry 60,000
passengers a day across the capital of Africa's second most populous
nation. The two line, 34-kilometre (21 mile) system was built by the
China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), costing $475 million, 85 percent of which has been covered by China's Exim bank. AFP PHOTO /
MULUGETA AYENE / AFP / Mulugeta Ayene
Passengers enjoy their first ride on Ethiopia’s new tramway in
September 2015 in Addis Abada. Photo: AFP/Mulugeta Ayene
And it is not just South Africa that is ahead of Senegal.
In September last year, authorities in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa unveiled a brand new commuter service: the Addis Ababa Light
Railway. This train has its own electrical power system which is
independent from the main electricity network of the country. The aim
is to protect the train from power cuts that the country face
regularly.
Largely funded by China, the US$470 million project is certainly an
entirely electric train, and already operating. It is considered
technically to be the first entirely electric train in sub-Saharan
Africa.
What about elsewhere on the continent?
Looking elsewhere, Egypt was the first African country to be served by
an electric train when the Cairo Metro was launched in 1987. This 69 kilometre network was used by more than three million passengers in
2011.
In Algeria, President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika launched the Algiers Metro
on 31 October 2011 and the government is planning an electric metro
service in the country’s second city, Oran, while tram services are
either operating or under construction in more than a dozen cities.
Morocco, for its part, has more than 1,300 kilometres of electrified
rail lines.
And Francophone West Africa’s largest economy, Ivory Coast, is
projected to complete its own metro project in Abidjan, the economic
capital, in 2019.
Conclusion: The boast about Senegal as home to the first electric
train in sub-Saharan Africa is off the rails
The evidence is clear. The planned new electric train service for
Dakar, referred to by a minister after the president’s New Year’s Eve address will not be sub-Saharan Africa’s first electric train.
Two sub-Saharan countries – South Africa, in 2010, and Ethiopia, in
2015 – already have operating electric trains and Ivory Coast has one
in the planning stages.
It was an odd claim to make, exaggerating the government’s performance compared to the rest of Africa. Such claims should be stopped with a
clear red signal.
- See more at: https://africacheck.org/reports/no-senegal-will-not-be-the-first-sub-saharan-country-with-electric-trains/#sthash.1eYaQqsE.dpuf
No, Senegal will not be the first sub-Saharan country with electric
trains
A minister and adviser to Senegal’s President Macky Sall told viewers
on New Year’s Eve that a new train service the government is planning
will be the first modern electric train in sub-Saharan Africa. The
claim is wrong.
Researched by Assane Diagne
Senegalese President Macky Sall gives a press conference on the
opening day of the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change
in November 2015 in Paris, France. Photo: AFP/THOMAS SAMSON
Speaking on live TV on 31 December, just moment’s after the
traditional New Year’s Eve address by Senegal’s President Macky Sall,
one of his ministers and advisers told viewers that a new train
service the government is planning will be “the first electric train”
in sub-Saharan Africa.
Referring to the long-awaited project, Benoit Sambou, told the
independent Walfadjri TV-radio station: “The Regional Express Train
(TER) will be the first electric train in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
It was an odd claim to make. Was the minister right? Or was he simply,
as politicians often do, exaggerating the government’s performance
compared to other countries on the continent?
Where is the evidence?
President Sall told the nation that the construction work on the TER
project will start later this year: “The TER will serve 14 stations
and will be able to transport up to 115,000 passengers per day,
bringing them in less than 45 minutes from Dakar to Blaise Diagne International Airport” – 41 kilometres from Dakar.
Africa Check contacted, Sambou who reiterated the claim he had made on television. Asked for evidence he told us to speak to officials at the transport ministry.
Could the claim be correct? To know, we had just to take a look around
the continent.
What about the Gautrain?
Passengers wait to get on the Gautrain, Africa's first high-speed rail
line, on August 2, 2011 in Pretoria. South Africa's first high-speed
train made today its first trip between economic hub Johannesburg and
capital city Pretoria. Gautrain's first leg, a link between
Johannesburg and OR Tambo International Airport, opened last year on
June 8, three days before the city hosted the opening match of the
2010 World Cup. Gautrain, a $3.8 billion high-speed railway, can
travel at speeds of 160 kilometres (100 miles) an hour, enabling
commuters to make the trip from Sandton to Pretoria in 27 minutes.The
same trip takes about 45 minutes by car with normal traffic, and can
take two hours or more during rush hour. Local officials expect more
than 100,000 passengers a day, mainly car commuters wanting to escape
the region's notorious traffic. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
/ STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
We started in South Africa. Long before the first shovel bites the
ground in Dakar on the TER project, authorities in the Gauteng
province, the country’s economic heart, had completed work on a high
tech electric train, known as the Gautrain.
Linking the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, with the country’s
main airport and its political capital, Pretoria, the Gautrain started operating in June 2010, just before the kick off the FIFA World Cup.
Since then, the Gautrain, which has been designed to be able to run on
both electricity and regular fuel, has become a regular means of
transport used by thousands of travellers and commuters every day.
What about the Addis Ababa Light Railway?
Passengers enjoy their first ride on Ethiopia's new tramway on
September 20, 2015 in Addis Abada. Sub-Saharan Africa's first modern
tramway opened in the Ethiopian capital on September 20, marking the completion of a massive Chinese-funded infrastructure project hailed
as a major step in the country's economic development. Even before the
ribbon was cut, several hundred residents were queueing for a ride on
the Chinese-driven trams, which have the capacity to carry 60,000
passengers a day across the capital of Africa's second most populous
nation. The two line, 34-kilometre (21 mile) system was built by the
China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), costing $475 million, 85 percent of which has been covered by China's Exim bank. AFP PHOTO /
MULUGETA AYENE / AFP / Mulugeta Ayene
Passengers enjoy their first ride on Ethiopia’s new tramway in
September 2015 in Addis Abada. Photo: AFP/Mulugeta Ayene
And it is not just South Africa that is ahead of Senegal.
In September last year, authorities in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa unveiled a brand new commuter service: the Addis Ababa Light
Railway. This train has its own electrical power system which is
independent from the main electricity network of the country. The aim
is to protect the train from power cuts that the country face
regularly.
Largely funded by China, the US$470 million project is certainly an
entirely electric train, and already operating. It is considered
technically to be the first entirely electric train in sub-Saharan
Africa.
What about elsewhere on the continent?
Looking elsewhere, Egypt was the first African country to be served by
an electric train when the Cairo Metro was launched in 1987. This 69 kilometre network was used by more than three million passengers in
2011.
In Algeria, President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika launched the Algiers Metro
on 31 October 2011 and the government is planning an electric metro
service in the country’s second city, Oran, while tram services are
either operating or under construction in more than a dozen cities.
Morocco, for its part, has more than 1,300 kilometres of electrified
rail lines.
And Francophone West Africa’s largest economy, Ivory Coast, is
projected to complete its own metro project in Abidjan, the economic
capital, in 2019.
Conclusion: The boast about Senegal as home to the first electric
train in sub-Saharan Africa is off the rails
The evidence is clear. The planned new electric train service for
Dakar, referred to by a minister after the president’s New Year’s Eve address will not be sub-Saharan Africa’s first electric train.
Two sub-Saharan countries – South Africa, in 2010, and Ethiopia, in
2015 – already have operating electric trains and Ivory Coast has one
in the planning stages.
It was an odd claim to make, exaggerating the government’s performance compared to the rest of Africa. Such claims should be stopped with a
clear red signal.
- See more at: https://africacheck.org/reports/no-senegal-will-not-be-the-first-sub-saharan-country-with-electric-trains/#sthash.1eYaQqsE.dpuf
Don't forget the SNCC's Lubumbashi-Ilebo line, in the DRC; The line is electrified between Lubumbashi and Kamina.
No, Senegal will not be the first sub-Saharan country with electric
trains
A minister and adviser to Senegal’s President Macky Sall told viewers
on New Year’s Eve that a new train service the government is planning
will be the first modern electric train in sub-Saharan Africa. The
claim is wrong.
Researched by Assane Diagne
Senegalese President Macky Sall gives a press conference on the
opening day of the COP 21 United Nations conference on climate change
in November 2015 in Paris, France. Photo: AFP/THOMAS SAMSON
Speaking on live TV on 31 December, just moment’s after the
traditional New Year’s Eve address by Senegal’s President Macky Sall, one of his ministers and advisers told viewers that a new train
service the government is planning will be “the first electric train”
in sub-Saharan Africa.
Referring to the long-awaited project, Benoit Sambou, told the
independent Walfadjri TV-radio station: “The Regional Express Train
(TER) will be the first electric train in Sub-Saharan Africa.”
It was an odd claim to make. Was the minister right? Or was he simply,
as politicians often do, exaggerating the government’s performance compared to other countries on the continent?
Where is the evidence?
President Sall told the nation that the construction work on the TER
project will start later this year: “The TER will serve 14 stations
and will be able to transport up to 115,000 passengers per day,
bringing them in less than 45 minutes from Dakar to Blaise Diagne International Airport” – 41 kilometres from Dakar.
Africa Check contacted, Sambou who reiterated the claim he had made on television. Asked for evidence he told us to speak to officials at the transport ministry.
Could the claim be correct? To know, we had just to take a look around
the continent.
What about the Gautrain?
Passengers wait to get on the Gautrain, Africa's first high-speed rail
line, on August 2, 2011 in Pretoria. South Africa's first high-speed
train made today its first trip between economic hub Johannesburg and capital city Pretoria. Gautrain's first leg, a link between
Johannesburg and OR Tambo International Airport, opened last year on
June 8, three days before the city hosted the opening match of the
2010 World Cup. Gautrain, a $3.8 billion high-speed railway, can
travel at speeds of 160 kilometres (100 miles) an hour, enabling
commuters to make the trip from Sandton to Pretoria in 27 minutes.The
same trip takes about 45 minutes by car with normal traffic, and can
take two hours or more during rush hour. Local officials expect more
than 100,000 passengers a day, mainly car commuters wanting to escape
the region's notorious traffic. AFP PHOTO / STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN / AFP
/ STEPHANE DE SAKUTIN
We started in South Africa. Long before the first shovel bites the
ground in Dakar on the TER project, authorities in the Gauteng
province, the country’s economic heart, had completed work on a high
tech electric train, known as the Gautrain.
Linking the country’s biggest city, Johannesburg, with the country’s main airport and its political capital, Pretoria, the Gautrain started operating in June 2010, just before the kick off the FIFA World Cup.
Since then, the Gautrain, which has been designed to be able to run on
both electricity and regular fuel, has become a regular means of
transport used by thousands of travellers and commuters every day.
What about the Addis Ababa Light Railway?
Passengers enjoy their first ride on Ethiopia's new tramway on
September 20, 2015 in Addis Abada. Sub-Saharan Africa's first modern
tramway opened in the Ethiopian capital on September 20, marking the completion of a massive Chinese-funded infrastructure project hailed
as a major step in the country's economic development. Even before the ribbon was cut, several hundred residents were queueing for a ride on
the Chinese-driven trams, which have the capacity to carry 60,000
passengers a day across the capital of Africa's second most populous
nation. The two line, 34-kilometre (21 mile) system was built by the
China Railway Engineering Corporation (CREC), costing $475 million, 85 percent of which has been covered by China's Exim bank. AFP PHOTO /
MULUGETA AYENE / AFP / Mulugeta Ayene
Passengers enjoy their first ride on Ethiopia’s new tramway in
September 2015 in Addis Abada. Photo: AFP/Mulugeta Ayene
And it is not just South Africa that is ahead of Senegal.
In September last year, authorities in the Ethiopian capital Addis
Ababa unveiled a brand new commuter service: the Addis Ababa Light
Railway. This train has its own electrical power system which is
independent from the main electricity network of the country. The aim
is to protect the train from power cuts that the country face
regularly.
Largely funded by China, the US$470 million project is certainly an
entirely electric train, and already operating. It is considered
technically to be the first entirely electric train in sub-Saharan
Africa.
What about elsewhere on the continent?
Looking elsewhere, Egypt was the first African country to be served by
an electric train when the Cairo Metro was launched in 1987. This 69 kilometre network was used by more than three million passengers in
2011.
In Algeria, President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika launched the Algiers Metro
on 31 October 2011 and the government is planning an electric metro
service in the country’s second city, Oran, while tram services are
either operating or under construction in more than a dozen cities.
Morocco, for its part, has more than 1,300 kilometres of electrified
rail lines.
In Algeria, President Abdel Aziz Bouteflika launched the Algiers Metro
on 31 October 2011 and the government is planning an electric metro
service in the country’s second city, Oran, while tram services are
either operating or under construction in more than a dozen cities.
Morocco, for its part, has more than 1,300 kilometres of electrified
rail lines.
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