Algeria’s Agence Nationale d'Etudes et de la Realisation des Investissements Ferroviaires (Anesrif) has awarded a $476m railway line upgrade contract to a joint venture of China Railway Sixth Group and the local Infrarer.

The contract covers the electrification, signalling and telecommunications systems for the Annaba-Djebel Onk railway, part of the Eastern mining line linking inland phosphate deposits at Djebel Onk to the export hub at Annaba. The deal also covers the spur line to Bled El-Hadba.

The deal is the fourth major package to be awarded on the 422-kilometre (km) line. The local Cosider is executing the three rail dualization upgrade contracts for different sections of the line, which together are worth more than $750m.

The line upgrade development is aimed at increasing the phosphate carrying capacity of line from 2 million tonnes a year (t/y) to 8 million t/y.

The latest deal is also the third major railway contract awarded to Chinese contractors in Algeria this year. In mid-November, a group of China Road & Bridge Corporation (CRBC), China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and the local EPE SNTP won a $262m contract project for construction work on the Bouchegouf-Souk Ahras-Drea railway, with a total length of 121km.

In January, MEED reported that a team of China Railway Construction Corporation and Cosider had won a contract to build a 575km railway line connecting the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine in Western Algeria’s Tindouf Province with the national rail network at Bechar.

The project will facilitate transporting materials from the Gara Djebilet iron ore mine to industrial centres and ports along Algeria’s national rail network.