ADDIS ABABA, May 11 (Xinhua) -- The Chinese-built Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has transported 680,000 passengers and 9.5 million tons of cargo with an average annual transportation revenue increase of 39 percent over the past six years, official data showed. The railway's Chinese management consortium on Friday disclosed that the 752-km Ethiopia-Djibouti railway has seen the operation of 2,500 passenger trains with a passenger volume of 680,000 since it started commercial operations in January 2018. Data from the railway's management team also show that the railway has operated 7,700 freight trains with cargo volume of 9.5 million tons, and a commercial transport revenue totaling 11.3 billion Ethiopian birr (about 197 million U.S. dollars) has been generated during the same period. Since 2018, the railway has continued to develop the freight market and enrich its service scope, providing high-quality services such as cold-chain transportation, commuter trains for villagers, and special trains for automobile transportation, among others. The railway also brings development opportunities along the corridor, connecting sea ports in the Red Sea nation of Djibouti to dry ports and industrial parks in land-locked Ethiopia. On Friday, the Chinese management consortium of Ethiopia-Djibouti standard gauge railway officially transferred the management responsibility of Africa's first electrified cross-border railway to Ethiopia and Djibouti after six years of successful operation.
