Madagascar: Antananarivo urban rail (or metro, or tramway)

[Baxenden Bank]

An urban rail service is due to be launched in the near future in the capital city of Madagascar - Antananarivo.

The following photographs appear to show some second hand rolling stock acquired for the service. Can anyone identify them / their source please?
No prizes awarded for pointing out that one car is numbered 57.

The first picture is a grab from a media video (source: 2424mg) and is probably taken at the new urban rail station, labelled 'Gare Train Urbain Soarano' on Google (only part built).

The second is a photo from a news report (source: temporarily misplaced!) and is probably at the unloading port of Toamasina.

As a starter for 10, the vehicles will be of metre gauge and there is a chance that they were Spanish or Portuguese (given previous imports of locomotives).

It is claimed that the railway will in future be electrified, but as no catenary has been installed I think they mean the stations rather than the trains.

I am aware of the previous batch of trams exported from Switzerland to Madagascar 18 or so years ago. These are not those.

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

A trawl through Railfaneurope.net shows that they are Be4/8 "Mandarinli" EMUs from Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn in Switzerland. (I guessed that they were Swiss from the styling.) They were built in 1974 as two car sets, with a low floor intermediate car inserted much later. They are metre gauge and the voltage is 1250V DC.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

A trawl through Railfaneurope.net shows that they are Be4/8 "Mandarinli" EMUs from Regionalverkehr Bern-Solothurn in Switzerland. (I guessed that they were Swiss from the styling.) They were built in 1974 as two car sets, with a low floor intermediate car inserted much later. They are metre gauge and the voltage is 1250V DC.

Excellent, thank you.

There are a lot of rail sites out there to trawl through, I tried ones I have bookmarked and others that the search engine found, but that one didn't come up, despite a very deep internet search with 'worldwide' settings and using multiple search terms.

Regarding the traction supply, the news is confusing, not helped by having to be translated but these statements were given:

The rail network will be powered by a 5 MW solar power plant built by the public utility Jiro sy rano malagasy (JIRAMA). (Afrik21)

This train is planned to run entirely on electricity but difficulties in supplying electricity to the stations via the JIRAMA network have been noted. Other alternatives were subsequently studied such as the installation of a solar power plant or the use of diesel. (Madagascar Tribune)

The initial network will be a 12km route from Antananarivo / Soarano to Amoronakona (also referred to as Ambohimanambola) utilising the TCE line to the coast. Google shows works underway at various points.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 22 Dec 2023 ==

They had some more delivered in May of this year ex FLP Ferrovie Luganesi SA.

Photo shows a number of vehicles, unloaded at Toamasina and parked awaiting transfer, in a car park. Be4/12 or Be4/8?

Story and photo credit: https://midi-madagasikara.mg/train-urbain-les-locomotives-et-les-wagons-deja-au-port-de-toamasina/

 

[Gag Halfrunt]

Photo shows a number of vehicles, unloaded at Toamasina and parked awaiting transfer, in a car park. Be4/12 or Be4/8?

The one in the photo looks like a Be4/8 because it has two doorways per side. The Be4/12 has one.

Ferrovie Luganesi fleet list on Railfaneurope

Incidentally, I've found a video from February 2022 showing track renewal work on the line.

And after all that sleuthing here's a German news story that confirms the origin of the EMUs. The service was supposed to start in August 2023.

LOK Report - Madagaskar: Die S-Bahn von Antananarivo soll nun doch Anfang 2024 in Betrieb gehen

Fotos Ministère des Transports et de la Météorologie. Ein neuer Countdown läuft. Die S-Bahn von Antananarivo (Train urbain Antananarivo), die Soarano mit Ambohimanambola verbindet, soll jetzt doch Anfang 2024 in Betrieb genommen werden, sagt Valery Ramonjavelo, Minister für Verkehr und Meteorol...

www.lok-report.de

Google Translate:

A new countdown is underway. The Antananarivo suburban railway (Train urbain Antananarivo), which connects Soarano with Ambohimanambola, should now be put into operation in early 2024, said Valery Ramonjavelo, Minister of Transport and Meteorology, last week on the sidelines of the International Civil Aviation Day in Ivato.

The light rail was originally scheduled to begin operations and be inaugurated on August 15th of this year. However, the announced start did not take place . Many people who came to the opening returned without having achieved anything.

According to him, the opening of the train was delayed in order to be able to set up sidings and to ensure that the trains could cross each other and thus increase the train frequency on the route. "Originally we wanted to set up just a single round trip, but that would take up a lot of downtime in a single trip," he explained. "So we decided to set up these alternative routes. The materials that will be used to set up these routes are already in the port of Toamasina. We are just waiting for them to be set up."

The S-Bahn was supposed to run entirely on electricity, but there are said to have been difficulties in supplying power to the stations via the JIRAMA network. Other alternatives were then examined, such as setting up a solar system or using diesel fuel. According to the ministry, the light rail will still run on diesel when it is introduced. The old Swiss trains from FLP (Ferrovia Lugano–Ponte Tresa) and RBS (Regionalverkehr Bern–Solothurn) were originally intended for this purpose.

"The president's goal is an electric suburban train, so we will see with the technicians how we can achieve that, but that requires a lot of effort," explained Valéry Ramonjavelo. "First we will use diesel and then we will see."

The operation of the light rail will be transferred to a company that will be subject to the technical supervision of the Ministry of Transport and Meteorology. The municipality of Antananarivo (Commune Urbaine d'Antananarivo, CUA) will participate in the capital of this company. The light rail project is fully financed by the state and is estimated at 179 billion Ariary (EUR 36.4 million).

The Antananarivo commuter train route measures a total of 12 km . It will travel from Soarano to Ambohimanambola, passing through eight newly built or renovated stations. Each train will be able to carry up to 300 people per trip.

The light rail is urgently needed as around 2 million people commute between the city center and the outskirts of Antananarivo every day. Of the 4.5 million daily trips in the capital, more than 1 million are made by taxi-be (large taxi), mostly imported and converted Mercedes minibuses.

The 2004 shipment included two luggage vans that were intended to be converted into diesel generator cars. Perhaps they are still sitting around somewhere.

 

[Baxenden Bank]

The 2004 shipment included two luggage vans that were intended to be converted into diesel generator cars. Perhaps they are still sitting around somewhere.

The two ex-Furka-Oberalp postal vans (DZ 4354 and PTT Z 100) were reused by MADARAIL, the first as a D 5001 generator van for the "Trans-Lémurie Express" tourist train and the second as a van for the VB service D 5002.

Much of the LOK news item is available elsewhere but reference to the source of the trains is omitted, hence this thread.