The Ethiopian government has confirmed it plans to build an extensive railway system, despite some of the world's most challenging terrain.

At the moment the country has only one railway, the old narrow gauge line built by the French  linking the capital Addis Ababa to the neighbouring country of Djibouti.This is in very poor condition and only half of the line is operational.

The plan involves the construction of 5,000km (3,000 miles) of track, mainly for carrying goods, officials say.

There is an average of one derailment a week.

But a major European Union-funded renovation project is now under way.

Engineers are consolidating embankments, strengthening the bridges, re-laying about one-third of the track, using better quality rails and replacing flimsy metal sleepers with more solid concrete ones.

The Ethiopian government has confirmed it plans to build an extensive railway system, despite some of the world's most challenging terrain.

At the moment the country has only one railway, the old narrow gauge line built by the French  linking the capital Addis Ababa to the neighbouring country of Djibouti.This is in very poor condition and only half of the line is operational.

The plan involves the construction of 5,000km (3,000 miles) of track, mainly for carrying goods, officials say.

There is an average of one derailment a week.

But a major European Union-funded renovation project is now under way.

Engineers are consolidating embankments, strengthening the bridges, re-laying about one-third of the track, using better quality rails and replacing flimsy metal sleepers with more solid concrete ones.

When that is done, the Ethiopian government intends to embark on its even more ambitious plan - to create a whole new rail system. Officials expect train travel to be more popular than road travel

This time it will be standard gauge, electrified to make use of Ethiopia's huge hydro power potential. It is primarily aimed at goods traffic.

The man in charge, Getachew Betru, said such a system would make a huge contribution to Ethiopia's development.

One of the reasons Ethiopia had stayed poor, he said, was because it was not connected.

And, he said, railways were inherently much more popular with the poor than - for instance - the donor-funded tarmac road network that is mostly used by tourists and aid workers.

The government is still looking for partners to build the new railway.

But it says it is convinced that trains will be the transport of the future in Ethiopia.

Source: BBC News