Transportation

Railways

A map of the railway network of Tunisia, including major cities
Tunisia inherited much of its rail transport system from the French and the Tunisian Government has developed infrastructure further. The railways are operated by the Société Nationale de Chemins de Fer Tunisiens (SNCFT), the Tunisian national railway.[1] A modernisation program is currently underway. It has a total of 2,152 km consisting of 468 km of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge rail ways and 1,674 kilometres of 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge. Tunis has a light rail system. In the south of Tunisia, there is a narrow gauge railway called the Sfax-Gafsa Railway which delivers phosphates and iron ore to the harbour at Sfax. Tunisia has rail links with the neighbouring country of Algeria via the Ghardimaou-Souk Ahras line, and another connection to Tébessa, however, the latter link is currently not used.[2] There are no railways yet in neighbouring Libya though some are under construction in 2008; some gauge conversion would be required for efficient connections.

Highways

As of 2004, there were 18,997 km of highway including 12,310 of paved road and 6,387 of unpaved road. The major cities are all linked by road through the interior. In 2002, Tunisia borrowed €300 million from the European Investment Bank in 2002 to be used to improve roads in the country including €120 million towards building a motorway between Tunis and Sfax. (MEED Middle East Economic Digest, Feb 15, 2002