After decades of decline - the result of poor management and a lack of funding - Algiers, Tunis and Rabat are embarking on wide-ranging modernisation programmes. Despite the size of the Algerian network, much of it is based on infrastructure installed by French engineers in the nineteenth century. In order to inject much-needed capital into the system, Algiers in 2001 introduced legislation allowing for the national rail network to be opened up to private ownership, ending the monopoly of state-owned Societe Nationale de Transport Ferroviaire (SNTF).

The controversial legislation allows for the award of train operating concessions and long-term infrastructure operation, maintenance and renewal contracts. The legislation followed repeated government bail-outs for SNTF, which the government says were the result of poor management at the company and SNTF says were needed because subsidy cuts had starved it of funding.

Algiers' reward was an $8.8 million grant in 2001 from the World Bank to support an $11.3 million project aimed at improving private participation in the country's transport infrastructure. The main aims are to establish institutional capacity in finance and marketing and to set up a core rail investment programme. The project also provides for the establishment of an autonomous transport management and regulatory authority in Greater Algiers. This new body will be responsible for sourcing funds for future public transport schemes.

In October 2003, SNTF launched a masterplan that promised to electrify at least half of the track by 2012 - the country's only electrified line at present is the 283-kilometre Djebel Onk-Annaba iron ore route. Priority has gone to the electrification of 300 kilometres of suburban lines in Greater Algiers, but the project also covers many track doubling and track extension schemes, as well as the construction of new stations.

France's historic involvement with Algeria's railways continues to this day, with Gallic contractors taking many of the biggest contracts offered so far. One reason for this is strong financial and political support from the French government. At the signing of the contract for the electrification of three railway lines in the suburbs of Algiers, France's Economy Minister Nicolas Sarkozy indicated that Paris is considering a write-off of Algiers' debts to France.

However it is not an entirely French story. In 2003, Germany's Dywidag International won a $177 million contract to build a new section of the Algiers metro. The contract, which is being funded by the Algerian government and which comprises the construction of a 4.1-kilometre tunnel and four new stations, was a major step forward for the $934 million system.

Tunisia is also receiving World Bank support to modernise its rail infrastructure. A $57 million loan was extended in 2001 to encourage greater private sector participation. The project includes streamlining the operations of the Tunis light rail system, and preparing international tenders for the construction and extension of mass transit systems. Another component is to improve the efficiency of phosphate transport by rail.

The programme comes in response to Tunisia's rapid urbanisation and population growth, which is leading to increased pollution and traffic congestion in urban areas. The problem is particularly evident in the capital, where the number of pe