Italian Libya Railways was a group of small railways built in the Italian colony of Libya between the two World Wars.

History

The

Kingdom of Italy The Kingdom of Italy ( it, Regno d'Italia) was a state that existed from 1861, when Victor Emmanuel II of Sardinia was proclaimed King of Italy, until 1946, when civil discontent led to an institutional referendum to abandon the monarchy and f ...

built in

Italian Libya Libya ( it, Libia; ar, ليبيا, Lībyā al-Īṭālīya) was a colony of the Fascist Italy located in North Africa, in what is now modern Libya, between 1934 and 1943. It was formed from the unification of the colonies of Italian Cyrenaica ...

nearly 400 km of railways with gauge.

Projects

The Italian authorities decided to give priority to the construction of

road A road is a linear way for the conveyance of traffic that mostly has an improved surface for use by vehicles (motorized and non-motorized) and pedestrians. Unlike streets, the main function of roads is transportation. There are many types of ...

s in Libya when

Benito Mussolini Benito Amilcare Andrea Mussolini (; 29 July 188328 April 1945) was an Italian politician and journalist who founded and led the National Fascist Party. He was Prime Minister of Italy from the March on Rome in 1922 until his deposition in 194 ...

took control of the Italian colonies. After 1926 no more railways were made in Libya, but during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

the need of railways transport to the front during the war in the frontier with

British Egypt The history of Egypt under the British lasted from 1882, when it was occupied by British forces during the Anglo-Egyptian War, until 1956 after the Suez Crisis, when the last British forces withdrew in accordance with the Anglo-Egyptian agree ...

changed this approach. In spring 1941 the Italian government started the construction of a new railway between Tripoli and

Benghazi Benghazi () , ; it, Bengasi; tr, Bingazi; ber, Bernîk, script=Latn; also: ''Bengasi'', ''Benghasi'', ''Banghāzī'', ''Binghāzī'', ''Bengazi''; grc, Βερενίκη (''Berenice'') and ''Hesperides''., group=note (''lit. Son of he Ghazi ...

, but by the end of 1942 all was stopped because of the Italian defeat in north Africa: only 18 km were done in Cirenaica. In the same period was started the enlargement of the "Tripoli-Zuara" until the border with

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(and also these works was blocked by the Italian defeat at El Alamein in November 1942). Additionally it is noteworthy to pinpoint that an international project was studied for decades, but never done because of excessive financial difficulties: * Italian "Transaharan railway" (Tripoli-Tchad/Camerun) between Libia and the

Gulf of Guinea The Gulf of Guinea is the northeasternmost part of the tropical Atlantic Ocean from Cape Lopez in Gabon, north and west to Cape Palmas in Liberia. The intersection of the Equator and Prime Meridian (zero degrees latitude and longitude) is in the ...

Astuto, Riccardo. "Questioni ferroviarie africane". Rassegna economica dell'Africa italiana. Roma. Vol. XXIX. p.34

Equipment

In Libya the first locomotives were the

steam locomotives A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

R.401 and R.301, but the most successful were the R.302 produced in

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Railways

There were only five small railways: 1) Tripoli-Zuara (118 km): 2) Bengazi-Barce (108 km): 3) Tripoli-Garian (90 km): 4) Bengasi-Soluch (56 km): 5) Tripoli-Tagiura (21 km):

Gallery

File:Tripoli Stazione Centrale.jpg, Tripoli Railway Station in 1940 File:Benghazi Central Station.jpg, Benghazi Railway Station in 1930 File:Barce Stazione Centrale.jpg, Barce Railway station in 1930 File:Benghazi Italiana.JPG, Italian Benghazi with port railways File:Fiat Train Passing in to Cyrenaica.jpg, Fiat "Littorina" passing in Cirenaica File:Fiat train at Tripoli's railway central station.jpg, Fiat train at Tripoli Station File:Central railway station of Tripoli.jpg, Old steam train at Tripoli Station in 1920 File:Benghazi Railway System after World War II.jpg, Destruction of Benghazi station in 1943 File:Janzour railway station.jpg, Janzour Railway Station in 2016

References