The Italian authorities decided to give priority to the construction of roads in Libya when Benito Mussolini took control of the Italian colonies. After 1926 no more railways were made in Libya, but during World War II the need of railways transport to the front during the war in the frontier with British Egypt changed this approach.
In spring 1941 the Italian government started the construction of a new railway between Tripoli [2] and Benghazi, but by the end of 1942 all was stopped because of the Italian defeat in north Africa: only 18 km were done in Cirenaica.[3] In the same period was started the enlargement of the "Tripoli-Zuara" until the border with Tunisia (and also these works was blocked by the Italian defeat at El Alamein in November 1942).
Additionally it is noteworthy to pinpoint that an international project was studied for decades, but never done because of excessive financial difficulties:
Italian "Transaharan railway" (Tripoli-Tchad/Camerun) between Libia and the Gulf of Guinea[4]
Equipment
In Libya the first locomotives were the steam locomotives R.401 and R.301, but the most successful were the R.302 produced in northern Italy.
The Italian empire before WWII is shown in red. Pink areas were annexed/occupied for various periods between 1940 and 1943. Italian concessions and forts in China are not shown.
