Which ONE of the following statements about the railway lines of Africa is false?

Answer Details

The false statement is that Africa's railway lines are all of uniform gauge. In reality, African railways were built by different colonial powers at different times, each choosing its own track gauge. The result is a patchwork of incompatible gauges across the continent:

• Cape gauge (1,067 mm) is common in southern and parts of central Africa.
• Metre gauge (1,000 mm) is used in much of East and West Africa.
• Standard gauge (1,435 mm) is found in Egypt, and newer lines in Kenya and Ethiopia.
• Various narrow gauges exist in other regions.

This lack of uniformity is one of the major obstacles to developing trans-continental rail links in Africa, because trains from one gauge system cannot run on tracks of another without costly transshipment or regauging.

The remaining statements are all true:

• Most African railway lines run from the coast inland, reflecting the colonial pattern of extracting raw materials from the interior for export through coastal ports.
• There is no trans-continental railway in Africa comparable to the Trans-Siberian in length or strategic importance.
• Few railway lines cross national borders, again a legacy of colonial fragmentation.