Runaway Train

Metro infrastructure
Algiers
With over 3,000,000 inhabitants, Algiers is the country’s
largest city and, more importantly, largest transport hub.
Studies for the Algiers metro were first carried out in the
1980s, but operations did not commence until 31 October 2011.
As we reported previously, a consortium of Colas Rail
and KOU GC won a USD117m contract to extend the
line in October 2012. The extension was to run entirely
underground, linking Hai el-Badr in the centre of Algiers to
El-Harrach Centre in the east of the city. 101 The extension
entered into service in July 2015.
The metro now carries around 300,000 passengers per day
on a 13.2 km underground line that serves 14 stations. RATP El
Djazaïr, a subsidiary of the French state-owned rail company,
Régie Autonome des Transports Parisiens, was awarded an
eight-year contract by the Entreprise Métro d´Alger transit
authority (EMA) to operate the line. 102
Two more new extensions, adding 5.3 km of track, are
scheduled for completion in late 2017. 103 These will also
be completed by the consortium of Colas Rail and KOU
GC under contracts worth approximately USD190m.
Ensitrans was awarded a USD4m contract to provide project
management services for the extension of Algiers Metro.
It is hoped that expanding the railway network will move
traffic from road to rail and thus reduce congestion.
Feasibility studies were to be carried out for other extensions
of the metro line. One such extension that was approved was
a northern extension from Place des Martyrs to Chevalley.
However, due to financial uncertainties, this extension has
been “paused” and no further funding has been allocated to
take the project forward, according to Mr Aomar Hadbi, CEO
of EMA. 104
Oran
A metro line is planned in Oran, Algeria’s second largest city.
EMA appointed Spanish company, Sener to plan the line, and
it detailed a 19 km route with 20 stations. It was anticipated
that a tender would be launched for the first phase of
the project in 2015, but thus far there has been no official
announcement. Mr Aomar Hadbi, EMA’s director general, told
delegates attending MEED’s Mena Rail and Metro Summit
in Dubai in 2015 that “the only decision we now have is
whether we go turnkey or separate out the system and the
rolling stock”.
The line would be operated by a fleet of 74 metre-long fourcar
trains, each able to accommodate 626 passengers. It was
hoped it would open in 2020. The metro is planned to link with
Oran’s 18 km light rail line, which opened in May 2013. The city
also plans to build a second light rail line and a second metro
line, but there is no concrete detail on these projects. 105
Tramways programmes
As detailed previously, it was anticipated that tramways
would be developed in numerous cities across Algeria
as a priority of the Government. 106 There is a USD6bn
Government investment scheme for such programmes.
While slow-moving like most of the country’s transport
infrastructure development, we outline below our update on
what has happened on these projects in recent years.
Algiers
The Algiers tramway is a light-rail system developed by EMA
and operated by Etablissement Public de Transport Urbain et
Suburbain d’Alger (ETUSA). The first line (the East Line) began
operations in May 2011. The average driving speed is 40 km/h
and priority signalling at junctions enables a route travel
time of 25 minutes. In 2012, the average daily ridership on the
line was estimated at 150,000 passengers.
The first section of the tramway, from the Bordj El Kiffan
suburb to the Zerhouni Mokhtar neighbourhood in Bab
Ezzouar in the eastern outskirts of the city, spans 7.2 km
and covers 13 stations. The second section, from the Les
Fusillés neighbourhood in the downtown area to Zerhouni
Mokhtar, spans 9.1 km and covers 14 stations. This section was
inaugurated in June 2012. Two multimodal stations link the
metro, tramway, buses and taxis. Services began on the third
phase from Bordj El Kiffan to Kahouat Echergui in April 2014. 107
The fourth phase of the Algiers’ tramway was inaugurated on
14 June 2016 when Algeria’s transport minister Mr Boudjema
Talai launched public services on the eastern extension. The
2.7 km extension from Kahouat Echergui to Dergana includes
three new stations and is expected to boost ridership on the
line to around 185,000 passengers per day.
50 Runaway train | January 2017