Cape to Cairo Railway

Cairo–Cape railway
Overview
StatusOnly a few stretches in operation
5,625 kilometres (3,495 mi)
Termini
  • Cape Town, South Africa
  • Port Said, Egypt
Service
TypeHeavy rail
Technical
Line length10,489 km (6,518 mi)
Track gauge1,435 mm (4 ft 8+1⁄2 in) standard gauge
The Rhodes Colossus: Caricature of Cecil John Rhodes, after he announced plans for a telegraph line and railway from Cape Town to Cairo.
  Under British control or influence, 1914

This map shows the chain of colonies from the Cape to Cairo through which the railway would run. From 1916, Tanganyika Territory was added, filling in the gap.
Overview of routes discussed. Not all links displayed were finished.
Boarding Cape to Cairo Railway in the Belgian Congo, c. 1900-1915.
Crossing at Victoria Falls

The Cape to Cairo Railway was an unfinished project to create a railway line crossing from southern to northern Africa. It would have been the largest, and most important, railway of the continent. It was planned as a link between Cape Town in South Africa and Port Said in Egypt.[1][2]

The project was never completed. Completed parts have been inoperative for many years, as a result of wars and lack of maintenance by the former colonies.

The plan was initiated at the end of the 19th century, during the time of Western European colonial rule. It was largely based on the vision of Cecil Rhodes, an attempt to connect African colonies of the British Empire through a continuous railway line from Cape Town, South Africa to Cairo, Egypt.[3]

  1. ^ Railways of Congo. Shandong: XH Company Minning. 2020.
  2. ^ Minning areas in Congo. SKY Company. 2020.
  3. ^ Pitt, Colin (2016). The story of the cape to Cairo Railway. Vol. 2. CP Press. ISBN 978-1910241240.