After its inauguration on January 10, 2017, in Djibouti Metropolis, the Addis Ababa–Djibouti Railway (AADR) – the African continent’s first standard-gauge, electrified, multi-country railway – began its operation in 2018. Since then, on account of a number of years of analysis, we’ve revealed collection of articles in The Diplomat concerning the quite a few dimensions of this China-built infrastructure. This text is the output of the most recent fieldwork from the tip of January 2026 after we intently seemed on the present state of the AADR, with a concentrate on upkeep, modernization, and strategic enhancement in addition to regional connectivity.
The collectively owned railway – 75 % belongs to the Ethiopian authorities, 25 % to the Djiboutian authorities – could be thought of the spine of the regional railway community. For landlocked Ethiopia, it’s actually a lifeline to get higher related to world maritime transportation through the Port of Djibouti. There had been a hall throughout colonial occasions between the 2 international locations, but it surely had deteriorated. As Morozov defined, “Ethiopia was to be related by railway to the coast of [then colonial] French Somalia, which might facilitate France’s political and financial growth on this nation.”
On the time operations started, politicians took care to emphasise that the AARD is equally necessary to revitalize the Ethiopian economic system and regional infrastructure on the similar time.
In Could 2024, six years after the graduation of operations, administration duties have been transferred from the Chinese language Railway Development Company (CRCC) to the Ethiopian and Djiboutian governments. As reported by the Addis Commonplace, in the course of the administration handover ceremony, Abdi Zenebe, then the CEO of the railway, underscored: “This strategic coastal railway has essentially altered the transportation dynamics of products between our two nations, leading to diminished transit durations and enriched commerce prospects.”
Zenebe (who left the corporate after two years) highlighted in our earlier discussions that to make the rail worthwhile, in the beginning freight transportation needs to be additional improved, which requires native experience and human assets improvement.
At a gathering with Deputy CEO Youssouf Djama Farah and colleagues on January 28, 2026 in Djibouti Metropolis, it was emphasised that out of the numerous a whole bunch of native employees the perfect 120 – most of whom acquired related Bachelor’s levels from the College of Djibouti – have been chosen to get additional coaching in Ethiopia (30 engineers) and in China (90 technicians). After these employees returned from their coaching applications, the Djiboutian facet of the railway reached a degree of readiness that enabled it to independently implement the strategic plan for addressing operation and upkeep challenges.
Following technical research performed in China in 2016, Djiboutian employees labored intently with Chinese language specialists for a interval of six years. For the previous two years, the Djiboutian facet has assumed full operational and upkeep administration tasks with out the involvement of Chinese language personnel.
Chief Operations Officer (COO) Khaire Mohamed Ali confidently outlined how the gathered technical experience now permits the railway to independently perform repairs on a major variety of locomotives, in addition to to make sure the upkeep of the railway observe and related infrastructure. This functionality additionally extends to the upkeep {of electrical} techniques, that are important provided that the railway operates totally on electrical traction.
With regard to income and attainable future avenues of progress, whereas presenting the annual fiscal report in July 2025, Ethiopian Minister of Transport and Logistics Alemu Sime identified that “inbound items dominated cargo transportation, accounting for near 91 % of all exercise, virtually all of which went via Djibouti’s ports.”
The connection of each ports – Doraleh Multi-Goal Port (DMP) and the Doraleh Container Terminal Administration Firm (SGTD) – has been a important consider strengthening Djibouti’s strategic function inside the railway hall. Each ports have made substantial investments – round $70 million – to help the railway by establishing devoted rail strains instantly getting into the port services.
These direct rail-port interfaces have been developed with the target of reinforcing the Djibouti-Ethiopia hall via rail transport, enhancing operational effectivity, decreasing dealing with occasions, and guaranteeing seamless integration between maritime and rail logistics.
This strategy drastically helped increase the quantity of cargo that has been transported on the AADR: from 1.8 tons in 2024 to three.2 tons in 2025. This underscores the importance of upkeep in any strategic planning, along with the apparent requisites of energy stability, safety, and security.
Higher interconnectedness between the railway and the ports and the development of effectivity have been additionally highlighted by Ali Ahmed Aouled, industrial director of the Doraleh Multi-Goal Port. In a private dialogue, he emphasised that DMP has already recognized the necessity to improve, each in amount and in high quality, the tools required to be able to successfully reply to the rising volumes of cargo dealt with. Steps are presently being undertaken to amass this tools. Moreover, DMP is absolutely conscious of the significance of preserving its market share, which is predicated specifically on its wonderful connectivity with Ethiopia.
A ship belonging to China’s state-owned enterprise COSCO in Doraleh Multi-Goal Port. Picture by Istvan Tarrosy.
But not all of Ethiopia-Djibouti commerce makes use of this railway. When implementing the venture, the main target was particularly on the primary Addis Ababa-Djibouti line, which we highlighted in earlier articles. Nonetheless, this meant that the AADR was unable to prime into the financial potential of the areas alongside the route. The shortage of trunk strains and depots additionally meant that it was less expensive to move items by truck even from the railway’s catchment space. To quote one instance, take the more and more vital livestock export to the ports in Djibouti: it’s simpler to drive them to Djibouti’s ports than to first transport them to Addis Ababa after which put the animals on a practice there. The shortage of those investments has slowed progress and the financial improvement of areas not related to the railroad infrastructure.
Nonetheless, the previous yr has introduced change on this regard as effectively, significantly on the Djibouti facet. In Djibouti, there are plans to broaden two department strains: one is a 1.5 km spur towards the Awash oil terminal and Horizon Djibouti Terminal Restricted (HDTL), and the opposite would lengthen the community by 17 km to the Damerjog Industrial Park and Free Zone. The oil terminal venture is especially necessary as a result of it additionally creates a chance to make use of oil tanker railroad automobiles which were underutilized because the AADR started working.
Trying forward, additional strategic investments are deliberate at Nagad Railway Station in Djibouti Metropolis via the event of the Nagad Free Commerce Zone inside the railway station space. This future venture is meant to rework Nagad into a totally built-in rail-based logistics and industrial hub, enhancing value-added companies, consolidating freight flows, and strengthening Djibouti’s place as a key gateway for Ethiopia’s rail-borne commerce.
Growth on this course may additionally start on the Ethiopian facet. In 2025 they began connecting the AMG Industrial Park to the primary line, a size of three km. Negotiations additionally started concerning potential renovations and the implementation of the aforementioned lacking infrastructure, which has not but been constructed, in the summertime of 2025. Consequently, the locomotive and rolling inventory fleet may very well be expanded, and the variety of route interruptions may very well be decreased, for instance, by establishing animal crossings (the importance of which we are going to focus on later from a revenue perspective).
The plan, as we heard it from the Djiboutian facet, is clearly to extend capability for additional progress. The event and operation of port applied sciences is a very necessary process for this, making Djibouti a distinguished participant within the area.
To make the railway extra worthwhile, it’s of utmost significance that the corporate reduces further spending. There has not too long ago been a coverage change for instances the place native farmers trigger delays by driving their livestock deliberately onto the tracks: the rail firm now explicitly communicates that it’s going to not pay any compensation in such situations. As we wrote beforehand, we first heard about such actions in 2019, and – though on the decline – such instances are nonetheless current.
Passengers utilizing the practice in Djibouti have elevated in quantity. The COO shared the overall figures from the final two years: 278,000 folks rode on the phase from Nagad Station to Dire Dawa in 2024, which grew to 471,000 in 2025. Many of those passengers disembark at Dire Dawa, which is Ethiopia’s second-largest metropolis with a inhabitants of 530,000. Practice riders embrace folks occurring vacation for a weekend to be spent in cosmopolitan Dire Dawa, or visiting household alongside the road, or participating in casual financial actions.
On-line ticket reservations have been launched in December 2025 in Djibouti, as a part of the corporate’s digital transformation technique. Because the deputy CEO mentioned in a press release to the press, this new platform can permit vacationers to buy their tickets “in just some clicks” utilizing their passport.
Amongst additional strategic plans, the Djibouti facet a number of occasions emphasised the enhancement of interconnectivity and in a realistic manner, to diversify connections whereas upgrading and increasing the community. On this effort, the World Financial institution-financed Addis-Djibouti Regional Financial Hall will get a bigger macro regional context with the Horn of Africa Initiative’s Regional Financial Hall venture (introduced as early as July 2023). In response to the World Financial institution’s Worldwide Growth Affiliation, this goals to enhance regional connectivity and Ethiopian logistics effectivity.
