“Pining Train” brings back features of old Sudan

The Minister of Transport, Mirghani Musa, announced the re-run of the “Pining Train” – the Khartoum train line linking Atbara, Haya, Jebet and Port Sudan – for the first time in 16 years.

Khartoum: AlTaghyeer

The oldest railway in Africa, the Sudanese railway authority, played a much more diminished role during the former deposed regime’s reign.

The return of the train comes, according to the minister, as part of the Ministry of Transport’s efforts to revive the role of the railways in linking states with each other at an economic cost and with integrated services to boot.

On his official Facebook page on Thursday, the minister revealed the “Pining Train” was being taken on its first reconnaissance trip next Tuesday, leaving from Port Sudan.

The purpose of the trip is to determine the volume of demand and help configure the train schedule.

Musa thanked the governor of the Red Sea State, who said that he expressed a desire to cooperate and provide unlimited support to ensure the trip’s success, hoping for continuity and many other trips.

“This return constitutes a small part of the pledges we made to the people, and a glimpse of loyalty to the martyrs, sacrifices for the right of the revolution,” Minister Mirghani said.

“A promise of change, and good tidings carried on the backs of a hopeful return of our domestic stations, which we are currently working on achieving with all our abilities,” he continued.

Pining Train/Qi’Tar al-Sho’g

The minister’s expressions, along with the return of the Port Sudan train, are not just sentimental words.

In addition to its economic role in transporting goods and passengers, the railway has – for many decades – represented a rich history of linking different Sudanese communities with one another.

The railway covered major sectors, divided accorded to regions, which went as far as pre-independence South Sudan.

For political reasons which go back as far as since the British colonization of Sudan, the railway has faced difficulties from successive regimes ruling the country, which greatly impacted the railway system’s future.

The railway not only linked the vast areas of Sudan to one another, but also served as a way to connect lovers, forming within the collective Sudanese conscience a vessel by which they could broadcast their feelings, writing many prominent poems and songs that are still popular today.