East Africans enjoy benefits of China-built electrified railway

Salamnash Meles used to travel 10 hours by bus to check her business in Dire Dawa, a town 450 kilometers east of the Ethiopian capital of Addis Ababa, where her extended family lives.

Meles, 37, runs a boutique in Dire Dawa and owns a coffee farm in the outskirts of the city. However, she lives in Addis Ababa with her husband and their three children, where she also operates another boutique.

Before the launch of a railway line, she used to travel to Dire Dawa twice per month, meaning she couldn't monitor her business and farm properly.