{"id":47539,"date":"2025-10-25T10:30:07","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:30:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/?p=47539"},"modified":"2025-10-25T10:30:07","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T07:30:07","slug":"ethiopias-new-railway-plan-envisions-direct-line-to-the-red-sea","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/47539\/","title":{"rendered":"Ethiopia\u2019s New Railway Plan Envisions Direct Line to the Red Sea"},"content":{"rendered":"

ERC, Yapi Merkezi arbitration continues in London<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) has unveiled plans for a USD 1.58 billion standard-gauge railway intended to connect northern Ethiopia with the Red Sea ports of Tadjourah, Assab, and Massawa.<\/p>\n

\u200eThe infrastructural ambitions were laid out in a 21-page company report presented on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, during the National Railway Business and Investment Summit held at the Skylight Hotel in Addis Ababa.<\/p>\n

The document obtained by The Reporter<\/em> describes the 216 kilometer, single-track Weldiya-Hara Gebeya-Mekelle standard-gauge rail project as ongoing and estimates its total cost at close to USD 1.6 billion.<\/p>\n

\u200e\u201cThe railway connects Ethiopia with Tadjourah, Assab and Massawa ports,\u201d the summary reads, situating the line squarely within the government\u2019s broader campaign to regain maritime access.<\/p>\n

\u200eWhen asked by The Reporter<\/em> whether the Woldiya\u2013Mekelle corridor includes the Kombolcha-Hara Gebeya section, ERC Chief Executive Officer Hilina Belachew (Eng.) clarified that the project is separate from an arbitration case involving the Awash\u2013Kombolcha\u2013Hara Gebeya railway (AKH) project.<\/p>\n

\u200e”The Awash\u2013Kombolcha-Hara Gebeya Project and the Woldiya\u2013Mekelle Project are different projects. The arbitration pertaining to the former project has not yet been completed,\u201d she said, noting that the arbitration for the AKH project with Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi remains unresolved though most issues have reached preliminary decisions at the London Court of Arbitration.<\/p>\n

\u200eHilina added that rehabilitation programs and financing mobilization efforts are underway to resume stalled works, with new maintenance and wastewater system fixes planned for the fiscal year.<\/p>\n

\u200eThe dispute between the Corporation and the Turkish contractor involves the AKH railway project, launched in 2015 with financing from the Turkish Exim Bank. Construction was later suspended following the outbreak of conflict in northern Ethiopia, which made project sites unsafe and inaccessible.<\/p>\n

\u200eOfficials say the war caused severe damage to equipment, stations, and unfinished infrastructure along the corridor. The construction work was forced to a stop as fighting spread through the Amhara and Afar regions. The escalation compounded earlier challenges linked to foreign-currency shortages and cost adjustments.<\/p>\n

\u200eERC and Yapi Merkezi have since filed claims against each other at an international arbitration tribunal. The contractor argues that design changes and force-majeure conditions increased costs, while ERC accuses the company of contract breaches and performance lapses.<\/p>\n

Hearings are still underway, with preliminary rulings issued in favor of ERC, while the case has yet to be concluded, officials told The Reporter<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\u200eThe suspension left key sections, particularly between Kombolcha and Hara Gebeya, incomplete. ERC says it is now preparing rehabilitation and financing plans to resume the works.<\/p>\n

The Corporation also aims to separate legacy disputes such as the Yapi Merkezi case from new projects, including the Woldiya\u2013Mekelle line, to maintain investor confidence and continue the country\u2019s railway expansion.<\/p>\n

\u200eAsked about other operational ventures and whether cross-border links are advancing, the CEO told The Reporter <\/em>that several associated projects are in early stages and aligned with the National Railway Master Plan.<\/p>\n

“There are cooperative and joint regional studies related to those. These studies highlight the regional integration we are pursuing with various countries,\u201d she explained, referring to initiatives aligned with African Union directives.<\/p>\n

\u200eHilina emphasized that financing such large-scale links would require \u201cdiversified mechanisms\u201d and collaboration with regional partners to make the projects bankable.<\/p>\n

The revelation of a railway directly connecting Tadjourah, Assab, and Massawa comes against a backdrop of Ethiopia\u2019s renewed political drive for sea access.<\/p>\n

\u200eLast year, Djibouti\u2019s government formally offered Ethiopia full administrative control of Tadjourah Port, but as of December 2024, Addis Ababa had not responded to the offer.<\/p>\n

At the time, \u200eMahmoud Ali Youssouf, former Djiboutian Foreign Minister and current Chairman of the African Union,\u00a0told The Reporter<\/em> that his country\u2019s gesture was meant to \u201cdefuse tensions between Addis Ababa and Mogadishu\u201d and to reaffirm that \u201clandlocked countries should have free, predictable, and unhindered access\u201d under international law.<\/p>\n

\u200e\u201cWe have offered it, but we are still waiting for the response,\u201d Youssouf said during a press briefing at Djibouti\u2019s embassy in Addis Ababa last year.<\/p>\n

He referenced the T\u00fcrkiye-facilitated Ankara Declaration signed between Ethiopian Prime Minister Abiy Ahmed (PhD) and Somali President Hassan Sheikh Mohamud, which sought to normalize relations following tensions over Ethiopia\u2019s MoU with Somaliland.<\/p>\n

Prime Minister Abiy reiterated Ethiopia\u2019s long-term maritime ambition in a September 2025 interview with state media, declaring that the return of Assab is \u201ca matter of time\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u200eSpeaking beside the newly filled GERD reservoir, he said, \u201cThe Red Sea was part of Ethiopia thirty years ago. The mistake took place yesterday and will be corrected tomorrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200eOfficials have since framed sea access as a matter of \u201cnational survival.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brigadier General Teshome \u00a0Gemechu, director-general for international relations at the Ministry of Defense, described Ethiopia\u2019s claim over Assab as \u201chistorical\u201d and \u201cirrevocable,\u201d while State Minister of Finance Eyob Tekalign said access to the Red Sea now forms part of the country\u2019s geopolitical strategic agenda.<\/p>\n

\u200eEritrea, however, has rejected these assertions.<\/p>\n

In a September 3 post, Eritrean Information Minister Yemane Gebremeskel dismissed Addis Ababa\u2019s remarks as \u201creckless saber-rattling\u201d and \u201cpolitical hogwash,\u201dreiterating Eritrea\u2019s 1993 referendum as an independent act of decolonization.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, \u200eERC\u2019s plan to link directly to Red Sea ports follows years of technical groundwork. Back in October 2018, the Ethiopian Maritime Affairs Authority (EMAA) announced completion of a study specifying port usage rates and logistics services for Eritrean ports.<\/p>\n

\u200eThe study envisioned equipping Massawa Port with new infrastructure and coordinated tariff frameworks, in line with bilateral normalization between Ethiopia and Eritrea that year.<\/p>\n

\u200e\u201cWorks were underway to equip the Port of Massawa with the necessary facilities, including renovation of roads,\u201d EMAA communications head Yeshi Fekade said then, confirming that Eritrea was conducting its own tariff study.<\/p>\n

The peace thaw that year also opened prospects for the state-owned Ethiopian Shipping and Logistics Service Enterprise (ESLSE) to operate out of Massawa. Then-CEO Roba Megerssa told The Reporter<\/em> in September 2018 that the Enterprise was \u201coptimistic of winning a tough competition to take over the Eritrean Port of Massawa\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u200eHe added that ESLSE was examining new cargo opportunities, including livestock carriers, and viewed the opening of the logistics sector to foreign partners as \u201ca blessing rather than a threat.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u200eThe latest ERC disclosure effectively places Ethiopia\u2019s railway investments within a strategic Red Sea corridor plan that meshes physical infrastructure with diplomatic overtures.<\/p>\n

\u200eWhile Djibouti\u2019s Tadjourah offer remains unanswered, Ethiopia\u2019s leadership continues to frame maritime access as both a developmental and sovereign priority. The planned Woldiya\u2013Mekelle line, explicitly described as a port-linking route, signals that the government is pressing ahead through domestic institutions even as regional politics remain unsettled.<\/p>\n

\u200eHowever, analysts contend that with financing needs exceeding USD 1.5 billion, execution will hinge on foreign partnership and multilateral funding, aligning with ERC\u2019s own reference to \u201cdiversified financing mechanisms.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ERC, Yapi Merkezi arbitration continues in London The Ethiopian Railway Corporation (ERC) has unveiled plans for a USD 1.58 billion standard-gauge railway intended to connect northern Ethiopia with the Red Sea ports of Tadjourah, Assab, and Massawa. \u200eThe infrastructural ambitions were laid out in a 21-page company report presented on Tuesday, October 21, 2025, during […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":68,"featured_media":47540,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"editor_plus_copied_stylings":"{}","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1960],"tags":[1959],"class_list":{"0":"post-47539","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-latest-news-in-ethiopia","8":"tag-front"},"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47539","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/68"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=47539"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/47539\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/47540"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=47539"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=47539"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thereporterethiopia.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=47539"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}