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Forchbahn to Antananarivo
Today's press made public the deal to transfer withdrawn Forchbahn units to Madagascar for use on suburban services in the capital, Antananarivo. The city's major, Patrick Ramiaramanana, officially accepted the gift on a visit to Zürich. For regular readers of this log, the news is not entirely new. It was announced here two months ago exactly. It pays to stay tuned! (See 01.07.04 and 13.05.04.) In contrast to earlier sources, the press state that the number of sets to be sent to Madagascar is five. It is planned to rehabilitate 5km of the 25km of metre gauge line in Antananarivo by the end of the year and the rest progressively later. There have been no passenger train services there for decades (but the line is used for freight, being part of a larger system streching from the central highlands to the Indian Ocean). Antananarivo has 1.2 million inhabitants and, understandably, faces considerable transport problems.
this item was added on 13.07.2004 (7440 days ago) |