railways with Chinese funds and technical assistance after years of maladministration and neglect. However a 2016 article noted that many Chinese firms had given up dealing with Sudan because of sanctions and pressure from the US. In 2021 the government put forward a $640m programme to rehabilitate its rail system. African Development Bank has offered a $75m grant towards the cost while China State Construction Engineering and several Gulf firms are reported to be interested in becoming involved with the project. The first phase of the project will be to carry out $17m of emergency repairs to lines that are in use. The second will be to renew abandoned lines, most of which are in the south of the country. Gezira Light Railway The Gezira Light Railway, one of the largest light railways in Africa, evolved from tracks laid in the 1920s' construction of the canals for the Gezira Scheme. At the time, rail had about 135 route km of narrow gauge track. As the size of the project area increased, the railway was extended and by the mid-1960s consisted of a complex system totalling 716 route km. Its primary purpose has been to serve the farm area by carrying cotton to ginneries and fertilizers, fuel, food, and other supplies to the villages in the area. Operations usually have been suspended during the rainy season. Tokar - Trinkitat Light Railway The Tokar - Trinkitat Light Railway was built in 1921/1922 at narrow gauge and was 29 km long, primarily used for the export of the cotton crop from Tokar. It used ex-War Department Light Railways rolling stock and Simplex locomotives. It was absorbed by Sudan Railways in 1933 and closed in 1952. Proposed Nyala - Chad extension In 2011 funds were reportedly obtained to construct an extension from Nyala to Chad - the financing was to be obtained from China. In 2012 a contract to build a rail line from the Sudan-Chad border to the capital of Chad, N'Djamena was also reported to be signed. But in 2014 it was reported that although Sudan and Chad had agreed to stop supporting rebels in each other's countries, the US$2 billion project had still not been signed nor started. Proposed link to Ethiopia In June 2020 the funding was approved to finance a $3.4m feasibility study into a standard-gauge rail link between Ethiopia and Sudan. Ethiopia is considering a 1,522km line between