TRailway Overview
The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Tunisiens (English: Tunisian Railways), abbreviated SNCFT, is the national railway of Tunisia and under the direction of the Ministry of Transport. SNCFT provides both passenger and freight services at a national level. Tunisia inherited much of its rail transport system from the French and the Tunisian Government has developed the infrastructure further. Due to historical reasons, the country has two different rail gauge systems. Thus SNCFT manages 471 km of standard 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge network in the northern and a 1,674 km gauge network in the central and southern part of the country (65 km electrified); only 8 km are double gauged track . Tunisia has a rail link with neighboring Algeria via the border at Ghardimaou, but passenger services are limited to a single round-trip per day. New developments are the following:
- The splitting and electrification of the terminal section of line 22 of the railways of the suburbs of the Sahel between Moknine and Mahdia, the signaling of stations and lines between Monastir and Mahdia including the adaptation and rehabilitation of other facilities existing signage as well as the acquisition of six multiple electrical units (“UEM”) to strengthen the UABS fleet during the project.
- The rectification of the route of the West-South railway line between Tunis and Kasserine (Line 6) as well as its modernization (signalling of stations and lines between Djebel Djeloud and Gaafour, telecommunications between Djebel Djeloud-Dahmani-Kef and track works).
Travel Time Matrix
Travel Time from Capital City to Major Towns (Hours / Days) |
|||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Tunis |
Sousse |
Sfax |
Gabès |
Bizerte |
Gafsa |
Kasserine |
|
Tunis |
|
2h 07 mins |
3 hrs 33 mins |
4 hrs 38 mins |
1 hrs 50 mins |
7 hrs 17 mins |
5 hrs |
Sousse |
2 hrs 07 mins |
|
1 hr 45 mins |
4 hrs 45 mins |
4 hrs 30 mins |
4 hrs 57 mins |
6 hrs 29 mins |
Sfax |
3 hrs 33 mins |
1 hrs 45 mins |
|
1 hrs 59 mins |
5 hrs 44 mins |
3h 07 mins |
4h 39 mins |
Gabès |
4 hrs 38 mins |
4 hrs 45 mins |
1 hr 59 mins |
|
8 hrs |
4 hrs 26 mins |
5 hrs 38 mins |
Bizerte |
1 hr 50 mins |
4 hrs 30 mins |
5 hrs 44 mins |
8 hrs |
|
10 hrs |
7 hrs 41 mins |
Gafsa |
7 hrs 17 mins |
4 hrs 57 mins |
3 hrs 07 mins |
4 hrs 26 mins |
10 hrs |
|
13 hrs 40 mins |
Kasserine |
5 hrs |
6 hrs 29 mins |
4 hrs 39 mins |
5 hrs 38 mins |
7 hrs 41 mins |
13 hrs 40 mins |
|
Railway Companies and Consortia
For information on Tunisia railway contact details, please see the following link: 4.5 Tunisia Railway Company Contact List.
Capacity Table
The Tunisian rail network has 23 lines with a total length of 2167 km, including :
- 471 km of standard gauge lines (1437 mm);
- 1688 km of meter gauge lines (1000 mm) 65 km of which are electrified.
8 km of lines mixed gauge (standard and metric).
In addition, the railway network comprises 267 stations, stations and stops. The maximum train speed is 130 km / h meter gauge and 140km / h in standard path. The maximum axle load varies between 16 tonnes and 20 tonnes.
Number of movements/days: Trains 244 travellers
(56 trains Outline, 188 trains Suburbs) and 68 freight trains.
Transport Equipment: 172 locomotives, railcars, trailers vans 274
passenger cars, 6 Electric railcars, wagons 3916, 1580
Containers.
Link of the distance: https://www.rome2rio.com/fr/map/Tunis/Nabeul
Rail Operator Capacity |
|
---|---|
SNCFT |
|
Operates on (lines) |
11 Lines |
Max train length and/or pulling capacity |
20 |
Locomotives (electric/diesel/steam) |
172 |
Freight Wagons (covered) / size |
1580 |
Freight Wagons (flat bed) / size |
391 |
Key Route Information
Standard Route Information |
||||
---|---|---|---|---|
La Ligne du Sud-Ouest: Tunis - Gaafour - Kasserine |
La Ligne du Cap Bon: Bir Bou Regba - Nabeul |
La Ligne de la Côte: Tunis - Sousse - Sfax |
Les Lignes du Grand Sud: Sfax - Metlaoui - Tozeur and Sfax - Gabès, and branches Metlaoui - Redeyef and Moulares. |
|
Track gauge |
471 km of 435 mm of (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
1674 km 1,000 mm of (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) |
489 km of 1,435 mm of (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) |
1686 of 1,000 mm of (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) |
Ruling gradient |
1:50 (2%) |
1:50 (2%) |
1:50 (2%) |
1:50 (2%) |
Total track distance (single and/or double) |
8 km double track. |
8 km double track. |
8 km double track. |
8 km double track. |
Type of rail (weight and if welded or not) |
(1435 mm) – 120mt/6 not welded |
(1435 mm) – 120mt/6 not welded |
1435 mm) – 120mt/6 not welded |
1435 mm) – 120mt/6 not welded |
Type of sleeper and fastenings |
Vossloh |
Vossloh |
Vossloh |
Vossloh |
Total track travel time |
5h |
1h31’ |
3h33’ |
4h38’ |
Maintenance (Good, marginal, bad) |
Good |
Good |
Good |
Good |
Companies-consortiums operating on line |
SNCFT |
SNCFT |
SNCFT |
SNCFT |
Traffic frequency (monthly/weekly/daily) |
daily |
daily |
daily |
daily |
Security (Good, marginal, bad) |
Good |
Good |
Good |
Good |
Main stations (Add details below) |
Ref to key stations |
Ref to key stations |
Ref to key stations |
Ref to key stations |
Key Stations
N ° |
Line |
length |
---|---|---|
5 |
Tunis-Gabès |
415 km |
6 |
Tunis-Kasserine |
314 km |
7 |
Bir kassa-La Goulette |
9 km |
8 |
Les Salines- Le Kef |
33 km |
9 |
Fej Ettameur-Tajerouine |
18 km |
10 |
Bir Bou Rekba-Nabeul |
17 km |
11 |
Kalaa Sghira-Kasserine |
195 km |
12 |
Kalaâ Sghira-M'Saken |
21 km |
13 |
Ghraiba-Tozeur |
234 km |
14 |
Aguila-Sehib |
25 km |
15 |
Metlaoui-Kasserine |
141 km |
16 |
Tabeditt-Redayef |
17 km |
17 |
El Founi-El Hamada |
19 km |
18 |
M'Saken-Moknine |
34 km |
20 |
Tunis-La Goulette |
10 km |
21 |
Gafsa-El Aouinet |
129 km |
22 |
Sousse-Mahdia |
65 km |
Railway Cargo Movement
- 490 wagons covered with a capacity of 13 000 tonnes for transporting bagged products, food products, cement, chemicals and fertilizers .
- 1300 cars dishes with a capacity of 57 000 tonnes for the transport of rebar, angles, flat iron, scrap and containers.140 wagons bulk carriers with a capacity of 5300 tonnes for the transport of grain, clinker .
- 110 ore wagons with a capacity of 5,500 tonnes for the transport of minerals.
- 50 tank wagons for the transportation of fuels.
- 920 gondolas with a capacity of 18,000 tons of payload for transport of bulk fertilizer and sulfur
- 100 various cars with a capacity of 3500 tonnes in 1700 containers with a total capacity of 40 000 tonnes, 13 000 to 15 000 tonnes per day for the transport of all containerized goods.
- 40 trains of freight per day to serve the whole country:
- 24 trains on the Tunis-Sfax-Gabes Sousse-axis.
- 6 trains on the Tunis-Kasserine-Jerissa Gaafour-axis.
- 10 trains on lines Tunis-Beja-Tunis-Bizerte GHARDIMAOU and two trains to transport goods to and from Algeria.
Combined Road-Rail Transport
SNCFT Freight provides chargers 8 Logistics platforms and tilting flat trucks for combined railroad; service door to door or from deposits, factories, shipyards and ports. 8 logistics platforms provide handling operations as well as terminal services. The train stops at the port of Rades to transport goods to export and import & offers transportation service combined road-rail containers of 20 'and 40' to or from the port of Rades.
SNCFT main tasks are:
- Rail passenger and freight operation on national railways network.
- Management and control of the property entrusted by the State in the form of concession
SNCFT safely ensures the transportation of:
- Phosphate
- Goods (fertilizer and sulfur, building materials, food, petroleum coke, containers ...)
- Travelers of Suburbs and main lines.
It made an average flow of 283 trains / day.
Passengers and goods transportation of all kinds covers almost the whole national territory on a network of 2165 km with 23 lines:
- 1686 km metric gauge, of which 90 km electrified (65 km from Sousse Bab Jadid -Monastir-Mahdia and 25 km from Tunis - Hammam LIF - Borj Cédria)
- 471 km standard gauge
- 8 km double track.
The rail network includes 267 train stations, stations and stops. It also has 4 links Rail-road links to the objective of favoring multimodal passenger transport by combining rail and road transport.
These 4 combined road-rail links are the following :
- Gabes- Tataouine : 136 km.
- Gabes- Djerba : 125 km.
- Gabes- Zarzis 177 km.
SNCFT‘s activities are performed by the following Five transport business units :
- Main Lines Business Unit, which is responsible for Interurban Transport.
- Tunis Suburbs Business Unit which is responsible for suburbs passengers transport between Tunis and Borj-Cédria.
- Sahel Suburb Business Unit, which is responsible for suburbs passengers transport between Sousse-Bab Jdid -Monastir and Mahdia.
- Phosphate Business Unit which is responsible for transportation of phosphate
- Freight Business Unit, which is responsible of various goods such as Fertilizer, Sulphur, building materials, foodstuffs, petroleum coke, and containers.
These 4 business units are backed up by 4 business units:
- Central Departement of Tunisian Railway network exploitation, responsible of network operations and real estate.
- Industrial Maintenance business Unit responsible for the maintenance of rolling stock.
- Central Department of the Railway Domain.
- Central Department of Management and Finance.
Fleet of trucks & trailers container:
- A fleet of trucks and trailers Container
- Gantry container handling and Shopping areas of container
6 logistics platforms:
- The port of Rades for entry and exit of containers at the port
- The Station Kalâa Sghira to serve the Sahel region
- The station to serve the Greater Sfax Sfax
- Train Ghannouch to serve Gabes and the South East
- Gare de Kasserine to serve the Central West region
- Gare de Gafsa to serve the South West