Addis Ababa - Diré Dawa -
Djibouti train service...
Although train
service between Addis Ababa and Dire Dawa has been
suspended for several years, a train still
links Dire Dawa and Djibouti three times a week. Buses link Addis
Abeba with Diré Daoua several times daily, journey time 10½
hours, no known website.
Addis
Ababa ► Diré Dawa ►
Djibouti
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Djibouti
► Diré Dawa
► Addis Ababa
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Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday |
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Wednesday, Friday, Sunday |
|
Addis Abeba |
depart |
* |
Addis Abeba |
depart |
* |
|
Diré Dawa |
arrive |
* |
Diré Dawa |
arrive |
* |
|
Diré
Dawa |
depart |
06:00 |
Diré Dawa |
depart |
06:00 |
|
Alisabet |
arr/dep |
(time not known) |
Alisabet |
arr/dep |
(time not known) |
|
Djibouti |
arrive |
(late evening, up to 20 hours later) |
Djibouti |
arrive |
(late evening, up to 20 hours later) |
The train has
1st, 2nd & 3rd class. 3rd class means travelling in a
goods wagon. 1st class seats have padding, 2nd class
seats are hard.
Dire Daoua to
Djibouti is 311km. Dire Daoua to Addis Abeba is 473km. The train runs on metre-gauge
tracks.
* There is
currently no passenger service between Addis Abeba & Dire
Daoua. There have been no trains for several years,
the line is cut in several places around Addis. In
theory there is a plan to restore the railway, but work on
this is slow and may indeed have come to a standstill.
Fares &
tickets...
Dire Dawa to
Djibouti: 1st Class 93 Bir (£4.60), 2nd Class 76 Bir (£3.80),
3rd Class 63 Bir (£3.10).
Djibouti to Dire Dawa: 1st Class 4900 DJF (£18.50), 2nd Class
3600 DJF, 3rd Class 2800 DJF
Children under 4 free, 4 but under
10 half price. Remember to get a visa for Djibouti in
Addis Ababa, as Djibouti visas cannot be issued at the
frontier or in Diré Daoua.
Yes, it is a lot
more expensive in one direction than the other! Buy
tickets at the station, but check the day before as
departures can be cancelled or deferred, perhaps by up to 24
hours.
Travellers'
reports...
Traveller Richard Gennis reports
(2009): "If you are thinking of travelling in on
this train you should check at the station the day before,
because when I was there the Dire Dawa departure on Saturday
was cancelled and it ran on Sunday departing at 10.30am!
I was also told that there’s about one derailment every week! You will notice that its a lot more expensive to travel from
Djibouti to Dire Dawa! 3rd class means travelling in a
goods wagon, but the only real difference between 1st and
2nd Class is the small padding to the seats. The
trains are busy so expect to stay in your seat for many
hours or loose it!
Security wise, there are armed
guards on the train as it departs Dire Dawa but these are
mainly to stop young children jumping on the train and
trying to escape to Djibouti. I saw many young children
mainly boys jump on, and then the train would stop while the
armed guards beat them until they got off. Sometimes the
guards would chase some of the lads on the ground to make
sure they got there quite brutal beating before the train
would continue! The normal things would apply if
travelling on the train in this part of the world as thieves
would be around and valuables should be well out of site as
you do attract a lot of attention.
There are two
border points, one departing Ethiopia and the other one at Guelile
600 metres further down the line to enter Djibouti.
You can expect to be at these two stops for around three
hours in total as everyone has to get off the train at both
stops and move across to a small building and wait in the
compound where you will wait until called by the border
police, and then re-board the train. You can get food
and drink at the Ethiopian border check point although
pretty basic, hot coffee, tea, cold drinks, biscuits and of
course the local food Injera.
Most of the guide
books have the info’ on the train completely wrong, most of
them still saying the train departs Addis Ababa but this has
not happened for over two years. They also say the train
does not operate at night because of the chances of attacks,
but this is also wrong as the train I caught on Sunday
20-12-2009 departed at 10.30am (over a day late) and arrived
Djibouti at 05.30am the next. I spent over 18 hours in the
cab!!!!
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Train travel in Ethiopia & Djibouti... Photos
courtesy of Richard Gennis |
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Djibouti station.
Photo courtesy of Richard Gennis |
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Dire Dawa station.
Photo courtesy of
Richard Gennis |
