Algeria’s Agence Nationale d’Etudes et de Suivi des Realisations Ferroviaires (Anesrif) aims to complete the modernisation of a 413-kilometre railway that links mining sites in Tebessa to industrial complexes located in Annaba by 2018 or 2019.

The modernisation work will include the rehabilitation and electrification of the track and the installation of signal lights and security systems.

Algeria’s Transport MInister Boudjemaa Talai said the modernisation of the railway line will help boost the country’s economy and trade. “The railway ensures the [timely] delivery of raw materials extracted from Jebel Onk in Tebessa to the steel complex of El-Hadjar in Annaba,” a local media report cited Talai as saying.

Talai said the modern railway, once completed, will reduce the pressure on roads used by trucks transporting goods.

Technical studies for the modernisation project are understood to have been completed and the contract for the execution of the scheme awarded to a local contractor in June 2015.

Algeria has a total of 3,845km of operational mainline railway track, with close to 8,000km planned.

Tebessa is located close to the border with Tunisia, while Annaba is a coastal area in the northeastern part of Algeria.