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25-441: It is the site of an experimental station for wind and solar power generation for desalination. The town is a major transport hub and border crossing, for trade by road between Tunisia and Libya. From 15 February – 15 March 2007, 21,758 foreigners entered and 8,112 left through Ras Ajdir. Ras Ajdir is a likely border station on the new Libyan Railways line, which is under construction in 2007. An agreement has been signed for

50-574: A gauge 950 mm, different from the meter gauge usually used in Africa, contributed to this effect. Today most of these Italian colonial railways have disappeared: those of Somalia after the British occupation in 1941-1945. The Libyan ones were suppressed in the 1960s, but in the same decade the Eritrean railway between Asmara and Massawa was reactivated after long neglect of trafficking. In Italian Libya

75-471: A great development compared to that promoted by other European countries on the same continent. The first rail lines were built mainly for war needs in the absence of efficient means of communication in the occupied territories, after the conquests of Eritrea and Libya. However, were quite limited in the first decades of occupation. In 1940 the amount of railways in operation, between Italian East Africa and Libya, amounted to 1,556 km of which, however,

100-563: A link to Tunisian Railways . The nearest Tunisian railhead, albeit of 1,000 mm ( 3 ft  3 + 3 ⁄ 8  in ) guage, is at Gabès . In 2011, during the Libyan Civil War , rebel forces attempted to take control of the crossing from loyalist forces. On 27 August, the border town was secured by the National Transitional Council forces. As of 2019, the population of the small coastal town of Ra's Ajdir

125-620: A standard African track gauge of 1435 mm) between Tripoli and Tobruk . But by December 1942 all was stopped because of the Italian defeat in north Africa: of the 1040 km only 18 km were fully done in Tripolitania, while 40 km were partially ready in Cirenaica from Barce toward Derna . In summer 1942 was conquered by the Italians (with Rommel's Afrika Korps ) the railways line built by

150-535: Is 6,469 people consisting of 6,023 Libyans, 306 Tunisians, 87 Algerians, 31 Italians, 9 Chadians, 7 Egyptians, and 6 Maltese. This Libya location article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Libyan Railways Libyan railways are the Italian colonial railways in Italian Libya . They are related to the development of the railways in the Italian colonial empire . This history started with

175-493: The Italian Benghazi and Cyrenaica area. Another small decauville was built around the port of Derna . In the fall of 1914 19 km long section was opened between Benghazi and Benina and two years later the next section. Between 1926 and 1927 other sections were opened to Barce, completing the 108 km line from Benghazi. At the end of 1926 approximately 56 km of railway were added between Benghazi and Soluch . In

200-591: The "Royal Law #314". In 1915 the railways in Libya had an extension of 180 km, reaching from Tripoli the cities of Zanzur/Sorman and Bivio Gheran/Henschirelabiad. After World War I were completed all the works (with the railways Stations) in the 118 km of the Tripoli-Zuara. The construction of the lines in Cyrenaica began later: the first lines were in fact only small decauville trains on purely military track, in

225-553: The 1930s there were five small railway lines in Italian Libya, 3 in Tripolitania and 2 in Cyrenaica: Tripoli - Zuara; Tripoli - Vertice; Tripoli - Tagiura; Benghazi - Barce and Benghazi - Soluch. The Italian authorities -after the construction of these initial 400 km of railways in five lines around Tripoli and Benghazi- decided to give priority to the construction of roads in Libya, when Benito Mussolini took control of

250-527: The 693 km of the Italian section of the Railway Djibouti-Addis Abeba were pre-existing and built by the French Empire for Ethiopia . The railways were built by Italy from the outset with little potential, because built with narrow gauge rails and with light metal type, and were never of great economic importance because isolated from the lines of neighboring states. Indeed, the choice of

275-832: The British and New Zealanders from Egypt until Tobruk, near the Egyptian-Libyan border. But a few months later the Marsa Matruk-Sollum-Tobruk line was back in Allies control. Until the 1950s the railways remained active. But by the 1960s there were only two small railways in Libya, departing from Benghazi and using classical Littorine: Benghazi-Barce and Benghazi-Soluch. In 1965 the last remaining stations in Benghazi and Soluch were closed. Today no active railway exists in Libya. Italian Cyrenaica Italian Cyrenaica ( Italian : Cirenaica Italiana ; Arabic : برقة الايطالیة )

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300-476: The Italian colonies. However Italian experts studied the possibility of building a "Transaharan railway" from Libya to the gulf of Guinea in cooperation with the French authorities: but it remained only a colonial dream. After 1927 no more railways were made in Libya, but during World War II the need of railways transport to the front during the war in the frontier with British Egypt changed this approach. In 1940

325-523: The Libyans (more than 75% of total population) had 97. In Cirenaica were founded -for the Italian colonists- the rural villages of Baracca, Maddalena, Oberdan, D’Annunzio and Battisti in 1938, successively Mameli and Filzi in 1939. For Libyan families (who contributed with many soldiers enrolled in the two Italian-Libyan Divisions: The 1st Libyan Division and 2nd Libyan Division were created in Cyrenaica in

350-597: The conquest of Ottoman Tripolitania in the Italo-Turkish War . In the 1920s, Cyrenaica was the scene of fighting between Italian colonial forces and Libyan rebels who were fighting for independence from colonial rule. In 1931, the rebel independence leader Omar Mukhtar was captured and executed. Fascist Italy maintained several concentration camps in Eastern Libya during the first phase of its occupation of that country. The colonial administration began in 1929

375-399: The fascist regime obtained full control of the area and started a policy of assimilation of the local Arab community. This policy was so successful that in 1940 there were two colonial military divisions of Arab Libyans. In the late 1930s, Cyrenaica was populated by more than 20,000 Italian colonists , mainly around the coast. As a consequence, there was a large economic development effort in

400-508: The first railways were created by the Italians after their conquest of Tripoli in 1911. The first section was done in 1912 from the port of Tripoli to Ain Zara , with 11 km of rails using a track gauge of 950 mm. By the end of the same year were done another 39 km until Tagiura and Zanzur . From May 1913 the Italian Ferrovie dello Stato started to manage the railways, with

425-565: The nearly wholesale deportation of the people of the Jebel Akhdar to deny the rebels the support of the local population. The forced migration of more than 100,000 people ended in concentration camps in Suluq , El Magrun , Abyar and El Agheila where tens of thousands died in squalid conditions, mainly because of epidemics like the Spanish flu . The concentration camps were dismantled after 1934 when

450-594: The official name of the newly combined colony. In 1923, indigenous rebels associated with the Senussi Order organized the Libyan resistance movement against Italian settlement in Libya. The rebellion was put down by Italian forces in 1932, after the so-called " pacification campaign ", which resulted in the deaths of a quarter of Cyrenaica's local population. In 1934, it became part of Italian Libya . Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania were formed in 1911, during

475-663: The opening in 1888 of a short section of line in Italian Eritrea, and ended in 1947 with the loss of Italian Libya after the Allied offensive in North Africa and the destruction of the railways around Italian Tripoli . The railways in the Italian colonial empire reached 1,561 km before World War II . The construction of railways in the African Italian colonies ( Eritrea , Libya and Somalia ) did not have, for various reasons,

500-507: The second half of the 1930s. Italy carried out massive investment in the infrastructure of Libya (the purpose was to develop the economy for the benefit of Greater Italy ). In Benghazi -for the first time in Cyrenaica's History- the first manufacturing installations were created: some industries were created in 'Bengasi italiana' in the early 1930s, that included salt processing, oil refining, food processing, cement manufacturing, tanning, brewing and sponge and tuna fishing. The port of Benghazi

525-605: The villages of Gedida-Nuova, Nahida-Risorta, Zahra- Fiorita and el-Fager-Alba. The Italians implemented major infrastructure projects in Italian Cyrenaica, mainly in the 1930s; the most important were the coastal road between Tripoli and Benghazi , the railways Benghazi-Barce and Benghazi-Soluch , and the enlargement of the Port of Benghazi . A group of villages with all the needed communications (and infrastructures) for Italians and Libyans were established in coastal Cyrenaica during

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550-526: Was an Italian colony, located in present-day eastern Libya , that existed from 1911 to 1934 . It was part of the territory conquered from the Ottoman Empire during the Italo-Turkish War of 1911, alongside Italian Tripolitania . The territory of the two colonies was sometimes referred to as "Italian Libya" or Italian North Africa ( Africa Settentrionale Italiana , or ASI). Both names were also used after their unification, with Italian Libya becoming

575-406: Was enlarged and a modern Hospital. Also a new airport was built nearby was created. In 1934, Italian Cyrenaica and Italian Tripolitania became part of Italian Libya . In the late 1930s, Cyrenaica was populated by more than 20,000 Italian colonists , mainly around the coast. As a consequence, there was a large economic development effort in the second half of the 1930s. Initially the Italian aim

600-499: Was started the study of connecting the Tripoli-Zuara with the Tunisia border: in summer 1941 were nearly ready all the 60 km of this track line, that were not activated because was given priority to a new line from Tripoli toward Egypt (because of the needs for the war against the British empire ). So, in spring 1941 the Italian government started the construction of a new railway (with

625-447: Was to drive the local population to the marginal land in the interior and to resettle the Italian population in the most fertile lands of Libya, but since 1938 the new governor Italo Balbo changed this policy in order to get the approval from the native population. The Italians did not provide the Libyans with adequate education until Balbo: the Italian population (about 15% of the total population) had 81 elementary schools in 1938, while

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