| Discover Algeria | About us | Press area | Contact |
-
Legal INVEST
Les derniers textes juridiques
View more
Les interviews By AlgeriaInvest
Newsletter
Subscribe to the economic newsletter
- News
NEW NEWS
- Our Services
- News
December 26, 2024 | 9 months ago
The Béchar-Tindouf-Gara Djebilet railroad line will be completed by the end of 2025
The Minister of Public Works, Lakhder Rakhroukh, yesterday revealed a major breakthrough in the strategic Béchar-Tindouf-Gara Djebilet rail mining project.
Speaking to the press on the sidelines of the government-walis meeting held over the past two days, Mr Rakhroukh affirmed that this project, initially scheduled for staggered delivery between March 2026 and June of the same year, will be completed several months ahead of schedule, at the end of 2025. The minister said “The project for this rail line Béchar-Tindouf-Gara Djebilet was scheduled to be delivered on schedule in March and June 2026, however, we are committed to finalizing it by the end of 2025,” stressing that the government and stakeholders are mobilizing exceptional efforts to speed up the work.
"Work on this 950 km line is scheduled to last 30 months on the three sections: the first, 175 km long, the second, 200 km long, and the third, 575 km long, are progressing at an accelerated pace", he said, adding that "the first sections of the project will be delivered in the first quarter of next year".
For the sector's top executive, the challenge of completing this major project, important for the mining and transport sectors, besides its great impact on the national economy, will thus be met, stressing that work on the third and longest section will begin very soon. "The first two sections (175 km and 200 km) will be delivered by the end of the first half of 2025, while work on the third section (575 km) will begin shortly", he explained.
Public and Chinese consortia at work
Work on the Béchar-Tindouf-Gara Djebilet line, for which the President of the Republic laid the foundation stone in November 2023, has been entrusted to groups of public companies (Infrarail, Infrafer and Cosider), in partnership (on some sections) with the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited (CRCC) group.
In this project, the first section, 200 km long, linking Béchar to the borders of the wilaya of Beni Abbès, and the second section, 175 km long, linking Oum El Assel to Tindouf, are being built by a consortium of public companies, while the third section, 575 km long, is being built by a consortium headed by the Chinese company CRCC. This section is divided into two segments: 440 km from Kilometre Post 200 to Oum El Assel, and 135 km from Tindouf to Gara Djebilet.
During his participation in the 20th International Public Works Exhibition, held last November, the Communications Director of the Agence nationale de réalisation, d'études et de suivi des investissements ferroviaires (Anesrif), announced significant progress on this project. He declared that this 950 km line "will be delivered before the March 2026 deadline", stressing that this performance was made possible by the "accelerated pace of work underway on the three segments of the route".
According to the same official, the companies in charge of the project have practically completed the opening up of the tracks and the earthworks, thus preparing the ground for the laying of the rails, stressing that this site is mobilizing innovative techniques, including the use of prestressed concrete sleepers, produced for the first time in Algeria.
A major technical and industrial mobilization
The challenge taken up by this project also relies on the involvement of national, and international, companies renowned for their expertise in the railway sector. This is the case for the leading Chinese group in the railway construction sector, CRCC, which has installed several production units on the site, including a concrete sleeper manufacturing plant at Hassi Khebi, which went into production on September 27 and is already producing over 34,000 sleepers. In addition, a ballast (gravel) production line has been commissioned, with a production capacity of 100,000 tonnes/day.
With the same aim of speeding up construction progress, the Chinese company has mobilized over 1,600 pieces of heavy equipment, including almost 1,500 units for earthworks and civil engineering, 53 units for sleeper manufacture, 134 units for rail laying while further 185 pieces of equipment are in the process of being cleared through customs. In human resources, over 5,000 employees, including 3,481 Algerians are carrying out the project.
According to CRCC officials, earthworks and engineering structures on the second section of the 575-km, 440-km-long line, jointly built with Cosider, are progressing steadily.
It should be remembered that this crucially important rail line project is part of the national strategy to exploit the full economic potential of Algeria's southwestern region. By linking the Gara Djebilet mining site, one of the world's largest iron ore reserves, to major industrial and port centres, this infrastructure will boost the mining sector while reducing logistics costs.
The announcement of the project's early completion illustrates the authorities' firm commitment to completing strategic projects within the shortest possible timeframe while complying with international quality standards. This anticipated success will reinforce Algeria's credibility as a reliable partner internationally, and attract further foreign investment to the mining sector and beyond.
December 26, 2024 | 
Popular Articles
