Project Type
Main Line
Country
Ethiopia
Length
392 km
Stations
10
Category
New Line
Traction
25kV 50Hz OHL
Capacity
–
Project Start
2015
Stage
Under Construction
Cost
US $1.7 B
Financing
Govt 40%; Loan 60%
Contract Type
EPC
Project Owner
Ethiopian Railways Corporation
Ethiopian Railways Corporation (ERC) is the national railway operator of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, under the regulation of the Ministry of Transport.
Background
The Awash-Kombolcha-Weldiya/Hara Gebeya Railway Project is a new railway line being constructed between Awash and Weldiya in Ethiopia. It will link the northern and central parts of the country. The railway line will carry both passengers and freight.
The project involves the construction of 392 km of single-track rail line, 40 km of maintenance lines and 18 km of station lines. The total length of the railway line will be approximately 425 km. The project also includes construction of twelve tunnels, three terminal stations with two platforms, and seven intermediate stations with a single platform. The railway line will connect with the Addis Ababa – Djibouti railway line at Awash.
The project is part of Ethiopia’s five-year Growth and Transformation Plan (GTP), which includes five rail projects in phase one.
Contractors
Main Contractor
Yapi Merkezi
In June 2012, the Ethiopian Railways Corporation signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth $1.7bn with Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi.
Sub-Contractors
Systra: Project Management & Construction Supervision
ABB: Traction substations and auxiliary power supply
Bombardier Transportation: Supply of BOMBARDIER INTERFLO 250 Signalling solution, an ETCS Level 1 signalling solution for main lines with SIL 4 certification.
Arup: Contracted by Yapi Merkezi to carry out train speed simulation, journey time calculations, line capacity work, energy consumption calculations, and peer review on rolling stock maintenance workshops/depots.
Recent Developments
Milestones
Yapi Merkezi starts construction of the railway line with a groundbreaking ceremony.
The Ethiopian Govt signs a $865 million financing package with Credit Suisse.
The financing package consists of a $450m seven-year commercial loan from a syndicate of lenders from Europe, Africa, Middle East and the US, and pays 375 basis points over Libor. Another $415m 13-year loan is backed by the Swedish Export Credit Guarantee Board (EKN), Denmark’s Eksport Kredit Fonden (EKF) and Swiss Export Risk Insurance (SERV) export credit agencies.
Credit Suisse acted as co-ordinating commercial facility arranger and export credit agency facility lead arranger. In addition to Credit Suisse, Deutsche Bank was the mandated lead arranger for the EKF financing ($181m), ING Bank for the EKN financing ($83m) and KfW IPEX-Bank for SERV financing ($151m).
Ethiopian Railways Corporation signed an engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) contract worth $1.7bn with Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi.
Project Documents
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News
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