Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway earns 50 mln USD in 9 months

A train stops at the Nagad railway station on the Ethiopia-Djibouti railway in Djibouti, Sept. 19, 2022. (Xinhua/Dong Jianghui)

The Chinese-built 752.7-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway earned 2.84 billion Ethiopian birr (about 50 million U.S. dollars) in the first nine months of the current Ethiopian fiscal year 2023/2024, which started on July 8, 2023, an Ethiopian official said Wednesday.

Speaking to state media outlet Ethiopian Press Agency, Aminu Juhar, chief corporate strategy officer at the Ethiopia-Djibouti Standard Gauge Railway Share Company (EDR), said the revenue generated is up by about 1.12 million U.S. dollars compared to the same period last year.

The rail line served 148,664 passengers during the first nine months of the 2023/2024 fiscal year, an increase of 15 percentage points compared to the same period last year, Juhar said.

He said the increases in the EDR's revenue and passenger figures were achieved despite challenges such as the ongoing security crisis in the Red Sea region and recent floods that affected Djibouti Port.

The Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway, also known as the Addis Ababa-Djibouti railway, was contracted by China Railway Engineering Corporation and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation.

The railway began commercial operations for both passenger and freight services in January 2018, connecting landlocked Ethiopia to ports in the Red Sea country of Djibouti.