History of rail transport in Madagascar
Encyclopedia
Metre gauge
Metre gauge refers to narrow gauge railways and tramways with a track gauge of . In some African, American and Asian countries it is the main gauge. In Europe it has been used for local railways in France, Germany, and Belgium, most of which were closed down in mid 20th century. Only in Switzerland...
line between Brickaville (now Ampasimanolotra) and Madagascar
Madagascar
The Republic of Madagascar is an island country located in the Indian Ocean off the southeastern coast of Africa...
's capital, Tananarive (now Antananarivo
Antananarivo
Antananarivo , formerly Tananarive , is the capital and largest city in Madagascar. It is also known by its French colonial shorthand form Tana....
). That line was the first section of the Tananarive–Côte Est railway (TCE) from Tananarive to Toamasina
Toamasina
Toamasina , meaning "like salt" or "salty", unofficially and in French also Tamatave, is a city on the east coast of Madagascar on the Indian Ocean. The city is the chief seaport of the country, situated northeast of its capital and biggest city Antananarivo, near the centre of the eastern coast...
, the country's chief seaport. It eventually became the nucleus of a network of three railways, the Network North .
Between 1926 and 1936, an isolated line, the Fianarantsoa-Côte Est railway
Fianarantsoa-Côte Est railway
The Fianarantsoa-Côte Est railway is a colonial-built railway in southeast Madagascar that connects the high plateau city of Fianarantsoa to the port-city of Manakara. It is 163 kilometers long and was built by the French between 1926 and 1936 using the forced-labor program SMOTIG. The French used...
(FCE), was built, again in metre gauge, in the south east of the island. The FCE is also known as Network South (French: Réseau Sud).
The two separate networks were combined under the same management in 1944. The whole system was nationalized in 1974. By the 1990s, the national system was very run down, and the Malagasy government decided to privatize it. Since 2003, Network North has been run by a joint stock company, Madarail
Madarail
The government of Madagascar has granted Madarail a 25 year concession to operate the northern of the two national rail lines. The company is investing heavily in Madagascar's rail system...
, under a 25 year concession, while Network South has remained under parastatal operation.
Madagascar has also had a number of industrial railway
Industrial railway
An industrial railway is a type of railway that is not available for public transportation and is used exclusively to serve a particular industrial, logistics or military site...
s, including a line serving a sugar cane plantation
Plantation
A plantation is a long artificially established forest, farm or estate, where crops are grown for sale, often in distant markets rather than for local on-site consumption...
on the small island of Nosy Be
Nosy Be
Nosy Be is an island located off the northwest coast of Madagascar. Nosy Be is Madagascar's largest and busiest tourist resort. It has an area of 312 km2 and its population was officially estimated at 36,636 in 2001....
, north west of the main island.
See also
- History of MadagascarHistory of MadagascarThe history of Madagascar is distinguished by the early isolation of the landmass from the ancient supercontinents containing Africa and India, and by the island's late colonization by human settlers arriving in outrigger canoes from the Sunda islands between 200 BC and 500 AD...
- Rail transport in MadagascarRail transport in MadagascarRail transport in Madagascar is primarily operated by Madarail, a subsidiary of Comazar.The northern railway is currently concessioned to Madarail...