The light railway system in Addis Ababa provides unusual scenery, a unique example of mass public transport in sub-Saharan Africa. Construction on the light railway started in December 2011 after securing funds from China’s Export-Import Bank (Exim Bank). It took three years for the China Railway Group Limited (or CREC, the acronym of the parent company China Railway Engineering Corporation) to finish the two-line, 34.4-kilometer system. The initial plan was to ease the traffic in the capital, but according to critical voices, the light railway failed to achieve this goal. There were rumors about European loans as well, being offered to help ease the traffic of Addis Ababa, but not specifically for the light rail system.

Source: Ethiopian News February 12, 2018 16:52 UTC