The Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma (Bône-Guelma Railway Company) built and operated railway lines in Algeria and Tunisia between 1875 and 1923 during the French colonial period. In 1923 it became the Compagnie fermière des chemins de fer tunisiens.
Contents
History
The Bone-Guelma Railway Company was founded in 1875.
The concession for construction of the line from Bone to Guelma, between the French government and the Société de Construction des Batignolles, was ceded by the latter in 1876 to the Bône-Guelma Railway Company, which had been founded by Ernest Goüin, with the assistance of the Banque de Paris et des Pays-Bas, of which Goüin was a director.
The Bone-Guelma company contracted with Batignolles to build the line.
It developed its network in Algeria and Tunisia with respectively 449 kilometres (279 mi) and 1,205 kilometres (749 mi) in each of the two countries.
The line had a station at Taya, eight kilometers by mule track from the Djebel Taya antimony mine .
The Algerian network was purchased by the State on 6 June 1914 and operated from 1 April 1915 by Algerian State Railways.
In 1922, the Tunisian government bought the Tunisian part of the network and entrusted operations to the Compagnie fermière des chemins de fer tunisiens by an agreement of 22 June 1922.
On June 8, 1923, a general meeting of shareholders took note of the change in the company's activities by changing its name to the Compagnie fermière des chemins de fer tunisiens.
Lines
Algeria
The total length of the network in Algeria was 449 kilometres (279 mi) in 1913.
Bône – Duvivier 55 kilometres (34 mi) opened in 1876
Duvivier – Guelma – Kroubs 168 kilometres (104 mi) opened from 1877 to 1879
Duvivier – Souk Ahras – Ghardimaou 105 kilometres (65 mi) opened from 1881 to 1884
Souk Ahras – Tébessa 130 kilometres (81 mi) opened in 1888 (metre gauge)
The company also operated the 11.4 kilometres (7.1 mi) tramway from Saint-Paul to Randon.
Tunisia
In Tunisia the company operated two networks. The northern network was built at the normal gauge and the southern network used the metre-gauge.
The networks included the following lines:
Tunis – Djedeida – Tebourba 27.9 kilometres (17.3 mi), opened in 1878
Tebourba – Majaz al Bab 31.9 kilometres (19.8 mi), opened in 1878
Majaz al Bab – Oued Zarga 18.4 kilometres (11.4 mi), opened in 1878
Oued Zarga – Béja – Pont-de-Trajan 34 kilometres (21 mi), opened in 1879
Pont-de-Trajan – Sidi-Ali-Jébini 20.7 kilometres (12.9 mi), opened in 1879
Sidi-Ali-Jébini – Jendouba 28 kilometres (17 mi), opened in 1879
Tunis-Nord – Le Bardo 9 kilometres (5.6 mi), opened in 1873 and surrendered in 1879 by the Tunisian Railway Company
Jendouba – Ghardimaou 33.8 kilometres (21.0 mi), opened in 1880
Tunis-Marine – Hammam-Lif 16.9 kilometres (10.5 mi), opened in 1882 (converted to metre gauge in 1897)
Mastouta – Béja 12.7 kilometres (7.9 mi), opened in 1885
Djedeida – Mateur – Tinja – Bizerte 72.9 kilometres (45.3 mi), branch in 1894
Tinja – Ferryville 3.8 kilometres (2.4 mi), branch opened in 1894
Rolling stock
Normal track
No.1 to 39, type 030t, delivered between 1876 and 1882 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.81 to 86, type 130t, delivered in 1899 by Baldwin Locomotive Works
No.136 to 155, type 030t, delivered between 1880 and 1883 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.181 to 185, type 231, delivered in 1914 by the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques (SACM)
No.186 to 188, type 231, delivered in 1924 by the SACM
No.189 to 192, type 231, delivered in 1930 by the SACM
No.221 to 235, type 150, delivered in 1910 by the SACM
No.501 to 505, type 230, delivered in 1904 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.11 and 12, type 130t, delivered in 1904 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
metre track
No.1 to 2, type 030t, delivered in 1888 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.3 to 9, type 030t, delivered in 1894 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.201 to 204, type 030t, delivered in 1886 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.211 and 212, type 030t, delivered in 1886 by the Société de construction des Batignolles