This article is a list of the railway stations in

Eritrea Eritrea ( ; ti, ኤርትራ, Ertra, ; ar, إرتريا, ʾIritriyā), officially the State of Eritrea, is a country in the Horn of Africa region of Eastern Africa, with its capital and largest city at Asmara. It is bordered by Ethiopia ...

.
The

Eritrean Railway The Eritrean Railway is the only railway system in Eritrea. It was constructed between 1887 and 1932 during the Italian Eritrea colony and connects the port of Massawa with Asmara. Originally it also connected to Bishia. The line was partly damag ...

originally ran from Massawa, a port on the

Red Sea The Red Sea ( ar, البحر الأحمر - بحر القلزم, translit=Modern: al-Baḥr al-ʾAḥmar, Medieval: Baḥr al-Qulzum; or ; Coptic: ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϩⲁϩ ''Phiom Enhah'' or ⲫⲓⲟⲙ ⲛ̀ϣⲁⲣⲓ ''Phiom ǹšari''; ...

, via the capital Asmara to

Agordat Agordat; also Akordat or Ak'ordat) is a city in Gash-Barka, Eritrea. It was the capital of the former Barka province, which was situated between the present-day Gash-Barka and Anseba regions. History Excavations in Agordat uncovered pottery r ...

. The line can be divided into three sections (Massawa-Asmara; Asmara-Keren; Keren-Agordat). Additionally there was until

WW2 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 opposing ...

a potash line, that was used also for civilian service.

Massawa to Asmara

The route was built between 1887 and 1910 by the

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

, who made the two main stations (Asmara and Massawa) with typical structures of railway stations in small Italian cities. As of 2008, this is the only section open.

Asmara to Keren

This section (with the stations) was built between 1911 and 1923. The railway generally followed the

Anseba River The Anseba River (, ) is a tributary of the Barka River in Eritrea with a length of 346 kilometers. It rises in the Eritrean Highlands outside Asmara and flows in a northwestern direction through Keren. It merges with the Barka River near the b ...

and one of its tributaries through the mountains between Zazzega and Halib Mentel. Halib Mentel Station 1301

Keren to Agordat

This section was built between 1924 and 1929.

Beyond Agordat

Beyond Agordat, the rails were laid as far as Bishia, another , with plans to extend to Ellit and

Teseney Teseney ( ar, تسني, ti, ተሰነይ), also spelled Tessenei or Tesseney, is a market town in western Eritrea. It lies south-east of Kassala in Sudan, on the Gash River. The city was much fought over in the Eritrean War of Independence dur ...

, linking with the railway network in Sudan. However this section was never completed. There would have been a

break-of-gauge With railways, a break of gauge occurs where a line of one track gauge (the distance between the rails, or between the wheels of trains designed to run on those rails) meets a line of a different gauge. Trains and rolling stock generally cannot ...

at the connection between Sudan and Eritrea.

Potash railway

A line carrying

potash Potash () includes various mined and manufactured salts that contain potassium in water-soluble form.

was built to serve the following locations: * Badda * Adaito The gauge line was active from 1905: a 600-mm track gauge line was built by the Italians inside the port of

Mersa Fatuma Mersa ( Amharic: መርሳ) also known as Mersa-Abagetye ( Amharic፡ መርሳ አባ ጌትየ)is a city administration in Habru Woreda of the Semien Wollo (North Wollo) of the Amhara Region (or ''kilil'') in Ethiopia. It has a latitude and ...

and from it into the hinterland until Kululi near the

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

n border. This was the main source of potash in Eritrea and had to cease operations because of the Great Depression of 1929.Neil Robinson. ''World Rail Atlas and Historical Summary.North, East and Central Africa''. London, 2009 (p.35-39).

References

External links

{{Eritrea italiana (Colonia Primigenia) *

Railway stations A train station, railway station, railroad station or depot is a railway facility where trains stop to load or unload passengers, freight or both. It generally consists of at least one platform, one track and a station building providing such ...

de:Schienenverkehr in Eritrea it:Stazioni ferroviarie dell'Eritrea