There were few railway stations built in

Libya Libya (; ar, ليبيا, Lībiyā), officially the State of Libya ( ar, دولة ليبيا, Dawlat Lībiyā), is a country in the Maghreb region in North Africa. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to the north, Egypt to Egypt–Libya bo ...

during the 20th century. The ones that were built were done so by the Italians from the 1920s as part of their colonial administration. Today there are no functioning railway stations active in the country, but new ones are planned, as part of a new railroad system.

History

Between 1920 and 1936 the

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

built some five small railways 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 ...

. Served by a host of small stations. Indeed, the

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

built in

nearly 400 km of railways with gauge. Nearly 40 small and big railways stations were built in Libya 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 ...

, when they ruled Libya. The biggest and most important was the one of Italian Tripoli. In 1965 were closed the last remaining stations in Benghazi and Soluch. Actually no one is active, but there it is a huge project of building new ones with modern railways, contracted by Chinese and Russians under former dictator Kaddafi. Fiat train at Tripoli's railway central station

Fiat train at Tripoli's railway central station

By the 1960s there were only two small railways in

, departing from Benghazi and serving classical Littorine: Benghazi-Barce and Benghazi-Soluch. In 1965 last remaining stations in Benghazi and Soluch closed. Today no active railway exists in Libya.

Tripoli Station

''Tripoli station'' in the capital

Tripoli Tripoli or Tripolis may refer to: Cities and other geographic units Greece *Tripoli, Greece, the capital of Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (region of Arcadia), a district in ancient Arcadia, Greece * Tripolis (Larisaia), an ancient Greek city in ...

, was the main terminal for western

, not far away from the port and the " Fiera internazionale di Tripoli". The station was connected to the stations of Zuara, Tagiura and Garian by small but very active railways.

Benghazi Station

''Benghazi station'' was the second in importance, located in downtown

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 ...

. It closed in 1963, when the last small railway of former Italian Libya the ''Benghazi-Solluch line'' was closed and dismantled. Barce Stazione Centrale

Secondary Stations

Other important railways stations were those in: * Barce * Zuara * Garian * Soluch * Tagiura

New railway stations

Plans for a new rail network, complete with stations have been under development for some time since the end of the 20th century. In the first years of the 21st century an ambitious railway plan was drawn up, with the support of former dictator

Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by ''The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spellin ...

. With backing from Russian Railways and China work started in September 2008 with earthworks begun between

Sirte Sirte (; ar, سِرْت, ), also spelled Sirt, Surt, Sert or Syrte, is a city in Libya. It is located south of the Gulf of Sirte, between Tripoli and Benghazi. It is famously known for its battles, ethnic groups, and loyalty to Muammar G ...

and

Ras Ajdir Ras Ajdir, alternatively Ras Jdir or Ras Ejder ( ar, راس اجدير), is a small coastal town on the border between Tunisia and Libya and Libya's most northerly point. Science It is the site of an experimental station for wind and solar power ...

, Tunisia border, in 2001-5, and in 2008 and 2009 various contracts were placed and construction work started on a

standard gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), International gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge and European gauge in Europe, and SGR in Ea ...

railway parallel to the coast from the Tunisian border at

, and on to

Misrata Misrata ( ; also spelled Misurata or Misratah; ar, مصراتة, Miṣrāta ) is a city in the Misrata District in northwestern Libya, situated to the east of Tripoli and west of Benghazi on the Mediterranean coast near Cape Misrata. With ...

and Bayda. Another railway line will run inland from

to Sabha at the centre of a

mineral In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid chemical compound with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. ( ...

-rich area. However, due to the ongoing conflict as a result of the

Libyan Civil War Demographics of Libya is the demography of Libya, specifically covering population density, ethnicity, education level, health of the populace, economic status, and religious affiliations, as well as other aspects of the Libyan population. The ...

, no new work on the rail network has been carried out since 2012.

Notes

Bibliography

Le ferrovie coloniali italiane in Libia (in Italian)