Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma


The Compagnie des chemins de fer Bône-Guelma 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.

History

The Bone-Guelma Railway Company was founded in 1875.
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 and 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.
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.

Lines

Algeria

The total length of the network in Algeria was in 1913.
The company also operated the 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)

Metre gauge (South)

Junction stations

Rolling stock

  • Normal track
  • * No.1 to 39, type 030t, delivered between 1876 and 1882 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
  • * No.81 to 86, type 130t, delivered in 1899 by Baldwin Locomotive Works
  • * No.136 to 155, type 030t, delivered between 1880 and 1883 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
  • * No.181 to 185, type 231, delivered in 1914 by the Société Alsacienne de Constructions Mécaniques
  • * No.186 to 188, type 231, delivered in 1924 by the SACM
  • * No.189 to 192, type 231, delivered in 1930 by the SACM
  • * No.221 to 235, type 150, delivered in 1910 by the SACM
  • * No.501 to 505, type 230, delivered in 1904 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
  • * No.11 and 12, type 130t, delivered in 1904 by the Société de construction des Batignolles
  • metre track
  • * 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
  • * 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
  • * 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