Addis Ababa Light Rail Transit (AALRT) is set to official start trial operation in a month time, February 2015.

The first trial is gong go be done in the compound of the LRT deport which is around Kality customs office. Then it will hit the streets of Ethiopia’s capital city.

“In order to make sure that the LRT is up to international standards, the testing of the tracks and cars will be conducted the coming February without passengers on board,” Dereje Tefera, Public Relations Head at the Ethiopian Railways Corporation, explained.

The trial operation is going to be undertaken by Consortium Organize Metro in collaboration with China Railway.

Students that have been in China for rail masters training, technicians and those that will work on operations are also going to take part in the trail process, Dereje explained.

The Kality depot, which has pre-programmed automatic controlling machines, is said to be sited on a 10,000 square meters land and it is going serve as the main hub. It is expected to be the operational headquarters and will mainly oversee the line which stretches from north to south in addition to serving as the main base for the cars.

In addition to this there is a similar depot being built around Ayat with the task of overseeing the operations of the line that stretches from east to west.

According to Dereje the trial period is going to last for three months. Nine cars are already in Addis Ababa while ten have already reached Port of Djibouti.

The total number of cars ERC will use when the service officially starts are 41 cars.

Source: The Reporter