French railway company (1875–1923) From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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.
Evolution of the Tunisian railway network between 1880 and 1941
The Bone-Guelma Railway Company was founded in 1875.[1]
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 (279mi) and 1,205 kilometres (749mi) 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.[2]
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.[3]
Algeria
The total length of the network in Algeria was 449 kilometres (279mi) in 1913.[4]
Bône – Duvivier55 kilometres (34mi) opened in 1876
Souk Ahras – Tébessa130 kilometres (81mi) opened in 1888 (metre gauge)
The company also operated the 11.4 kilometres (7.1mi) 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:
Normal track (Northern network)
Béja StationGhardimaou StationBizerte StationPont-du-Fahs Station
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
No.281 to 284, type 130t, delivered in 1899 by Baldwin Locomotive Works[8]
No.401 to 415, type 130t, delivered between 1897 and 1907 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.681 to 690, type Mallet 030-030t, Baldwin Locomotive Works, delivered in 1920[lower-alpha 1]
No.701 to 712, type 230, delivered between 1905 and 1907 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
No.801 to 805, type 231, delivered in 1913 by the SACM[10]
Baldwin Locomotives Works and the American Locomotive Company built about 150 Mallet-type articulated locomotives for export, including the Bône-Guelma railway locomotives nos. 681 to 690, built by Baldwin.[9]
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