Tunisia-Algeria international service restored

[SandsofEss]

Railways Africa is reporting passenger rail service has resumed this week between Tunis and Annaba, after a 30 year hiatus.

Three times a week in each direction, with modern rolling stock.

The first commercial train services on the Tunis-Annaba line will start on August 11 from Tunis and on August 13 from Annaba.​

The Tunis-Algeria railway line (TA line) stretches 216.6km from the Tunisian capital to the Algerian border and approximately 357km to Annaba. Operating on a standard 1435 mm gauge, trains can reach a maximum speed of 130 km/h.

The train’s composition includes a locomotive, four passenger coaches (two first-class and two second-class), a baggage coach, a service coach and a power coach.

Trains depart from Annaba to Tunis on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Trains depart from Tunis to Annaba on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays.

Full story here.

Excellent news, especially given the recent thread lamenting the partial demise of the Tazara route.

EDITED: to add direct quotes per forum rules.

 

[RailExplorer]

Looking forward to getting a journey on this sorted if still running in about 10 months time.

 

[nwales58]

Best to check FCDO advice (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice).

In Tunisia, whilst not as dangerous as around Kasserine, the area around Ghardimaou is currently 'advise against all but essential travel', as is travel within 30km of the border in Algeria.

 

[RailExplorer]

Best to check FCDO advice (https://www.gov.uk/foreign-travel-advice).

In Tunisia, whilst not as dangerous as around Kasserine, the area around Ghardimaou is currently 'advise against all but essential travel', as is travel within 30km of the border in Algeria.

Been to far worse places! And I mean countries that are listed on the FCO website as pretty much all red.

 

[Watershed]

Been to far worse places! And I mean countries that are listed on the FCO website as pretty much all red.

I think the key thing to note is that most travel insurance policies either won't cover you to travel in those areas, or won't cover you any claims that relate to the reason for the FCDO advice against travel.

 

[RailExplorer]

I think the key thing to note is that most travel insurance policies either won't cover you to travel in those areas, or won't cover you any claims that relate to the reason for the FCDO advice against travel.

Looking at the FCO map, the red area is literally the border - the yellow area is the border plus a few kilometres. Given that you don't leave the security of the train or station whilst making this journey (which is vastly different to making an overland journey between Tunisia and Algeria which would involve all manner of transport types from car shares, to walking to hitchhiking), it's certainly not one I'll even think twice about. The biggest issue is getting a visa for Algeria!

 

[nwales58]

Been to far worse places! And I mean countries that are listed on the FCO website as pretty much all red.

Risk is up to you and anyone around you possibly affected by it obviously.

FWIW, and no-one knows whether anything anyone posts is real, I have a bit of relevant experience having worked across Tunisia-Algeria-Morocco on and off between 1988 and 2015 including the bad times in Algeria in the 1990s.

Of course an Algeria-Tunisia journey now is likely, but not certain, to be incident-free but I would not do it. In my view it is a pity seat61 has publicised it, though loads of Youtube videos will be a bigger danger.

Travel insurance, obviously, but my biggest concern is that if many foreigners start using this it becomes an obvious high value publicity target for the armed groups further south in Tunisia if they want to get into the world's news, as happened in 2015-16. Who wants to be a headline?

If things go wrong, British is not a good nationality to have because a) we are perceived as a US poodle so you are linked to the many grievances people have with US foreign policy and b) FCDO's approach to you expecting consular help is 'you're on your own' (in a crisis former colleagues had more help from the French embassy than ours). If you are, say, Swedish, Finnish or Austrian the balance may be different.

Even if someone thinks FCDO are over-cautious I would not encourage anyone to ignore the 'avoid all but essential travel' especially in a public forum.

 

[peteb]

Risk is up to you and anyone around you possibly affected by it obviously.

FWIW, and no-one knows whether anything anyone posts is real, I have a bit of relevant experience having worked across Tunisia-Algeria-Morocco on and off between 1988 and 2015 including the bad times in Algeria in the 1990s.

Of course an Algeria-Tunisia journey now is likely, but not certain, to be incident-free but I would not do it. In my view it is a pity seat61 has publicised it, though loads of Youtube videos will be a bigger danger.

Travel insurance, obviously, but my biggest concern is that if many foreigners start using this it becomes an obvious high value publicity target for the armed groups further south in Tunisia if they want to get into the world's news, as happened in 2015-16. Who wants to be a headline?

If things go wrong, British is not a good nationality to have because a) we are perceived as a US poodle so you are linked to the many grievances people have with US foreign policy and b) FCDO's approach to you expecting consular help is 'you're on your own' (in a crisis former colleagues had more help from the French embassy than ours). If you are, say, Swedish, Finnish or Austrian the balance may be different.

Even if someone thinks FCDO are over-cautious I would not encourage anyone to ignore the 'avoid all but essential travel' especially in a public forum.

"If things go wrong....." Having been advised by the FCO to stay away from the border it might be impossible for them to practically assist you if you were in a hostage or kidnap situation. Train travel is much safer than driving or taxi sharing but not immune from such things.

 

[dutchflyer]

Another thing might be getting the inevitable VISA for Algërie. I´ve heard/read from many thast to visit areas they themselves consider as ´risky´ you get assigned a ´minder=as many communist countries used to do in the heyday of the glory for the masses against capitalism´ with you- I dk if you also have to pay for the wages for him. Or that a visa simply excludes visiting these areas.
From NL a train-hobbyist group visited all the towns that have built a new tramway the last yrs -I think 5 or 6 and getting the group visa for that was also a monthes long taking major headache.

 

[RailExplorer]

Risk is up to you and anyone around you possibly affected by it obviously.

FWIW, and no-one knows whether anything anyone posts is real, I have a bit of relevant experience having worked across Tunisia-Algeria-Morocco on and off between 1988 and 2015 including the bad times in Algeria in the 1990s.

Of course an Algeria-Tunisia journey now is likely, but not certain, to be incident-free but I would not do it. In my view it is a pity seat61 has publicised it, though loads of Youtube videos will be a bigger danger.

Travel insurance, obviously, but my biggest concern is that if many foreigners start using this it becomes an obvious high value publicity target for the armed groups further south in Tunisia if they want to get into the world's news, as happened in 2015-16. Who wants to be a headline?

If things go wrong, British is not a good nationality to have because a) we are perceived as a US poodle so you are linked to the many grievances people have with US foreign policy and b) FCDO's approach to you expecting consular help is 'you're on your own' (in a crisis former colleagues had more help from the French embassy than ours). If you are, say, Swedish, Finnish or Austrian the balance may be different.

Even if someone thinks FCDO are over-cautious I would not encourage anyone to ignore the 'avoid all but essential travel' especially in a public forum.

I am actually a dual national, of a Scandinavian country and the UK. I generally travel on the Scandinavian passport for exactly the reasons you have written above - I do not identify as British in many parts of the world due to the British sticking their nose into foreign affairs where it doesn't need sticking. It's much better being from a neutral country, although that neutrality of my Scandinavian country has been destroyed somewhat in the last 2-3 years sadly but it's still far better than a British passport.

Have a look at the public forum called "every passport stamp" on Facebook for some extreme overland travels to areas clearly designated as avoid at all costs.

Another thing might be getting the inevitable VISA for Algërie. I´ve heard/read from many thast to visit areas they themselves consider as ´risky´ you get assigned a ´minder=as many communist countries used to do in the heyday of the glory for the masses against capitalism´ with you- I dk if you also have to pay for the wages for him. Or that a visa simply excludes visiting these areas.
From NL a train-hobbyist group visited all the towns that have built a new tramway the last yrs -I think 5 or 6 and getting the group visa for that was also a monthes long taking major headache.

The easiest way to obtain a tourist visa (as far as I'm aware) is to spend about 50% of the trip in the desert as part of an organised tour. You are then given free rein to explore afterwards.

The tolerable risk levels are different for everyone, and rightly so. I'm on a mission to visit pretty much every country anyway - about two thirds of the way there (130 countries or so) - and I really haven't considered Algeria a sticking point in the slightest.

Ukraine, Iran, Russia and Mauritania - all either orange or red on the FCO map, yet I know rail enthusiast and many travellers in general that happily will, or have already visited these 4 countries in the past few months.

But anyway, going off topic. If I manage to make a trip, I will update this thread.