A rail freight transport program serving the various industrial units in Eastern Algeria has been tied up to accompany the ongoing process of economic development, the regional director of the National Railway Transport Corporation ( SNTF), Abdelhamid Achouche, said.
The regional railway station in Constantine city is working together to create “connections to these industrial sites”, said the same person in charge of coordination between the multiple industrial complexes put into operation or underway in the various wilayas (provinces) crossed by the railway.
Emphasizing the importance of this “big” project in the “support” of the economic development, Achouche said that studies have already been launched to realize this structuring program.
In this respect, the same official indicated that among the industrial sites targeted by this operation are the Bellara (Jijel) complex, the salt production plant in Biskra and the two cement plants in the same province, plus the national cement manufacturing complex in the Sigus region in the province of Oum El Bouaghi.
Affirming that the Constantine railway regional directorate constitutes a “pole” in the transport of goods ensuring “almost 50%” of transport transactions carried out by the parent company, the same official added that the regional SNTF carries all types of goods going From hydrocarbon products to wheat through salt, cement, pipes and coils.
In this context, Abdelhamid Achouche reported on the intention of Constantine railway regional management to purchase 30 state-of-the-art locomotives with a capacity of 4,000 tons each and 10 of which are allocated for Constantine city.
Achouche also spoke of an extensive railway maintenance program and the recovery of the abandoned railways, notably that linking Bounouara to Ain Abid in the province of Constantine. He recalled the ongoing national program to upgrade 202 rail cars, which will undoubtedly have an impact on the development of this area, which is expected to make its “big take-off” in passenger transport “by 2018”. He also announced the “very soon” entry into force of the modern system of remote payment of tickets of the SNTF.
Share on:
