The Sousse–Kairouan Decauville railway was a long gauge Decauville military railway from Sousse to Kairouan in Tunisia. It operated from 1882 to 1896, before it was re-gauged to .
History The French army occupied Kairouan in 1881. Pioneers then built the narrow gauge railway from Sousse on the coast to the former capital Kairouan within 3½ months.Rudolf Barth: Strecke im Wartestand: (Henchir Souatir –) Kasserine – Sbeitla – Kalaa Sghira (– Sousse).Victor Cambon (1852-1927): De Bone à Tunis, Sousse et Kairouan. 2nd edition, 1885 and Collection XIX, 2016. It ran mainly on an old Roman road.Michael Greenhalgh: The Military and Colonial Destruction of the Roman Landscape of North Africa, 1830-1900. Brill, 2014. Page 201.
The open-sided carriages arrived before 1 January 1882 in Sousse.François Gressin, Liliane Sekula and Daniel Wurmser: Paul Decauville on a Type 67 waggon, which was subsequently delivered before 1 January 1882 to Sousse. In: Bulletin des Amis du Musée Decauville, No 26/27, March 2003. Page 24. The first train transported wounded soldieres on 3 February 1882 from Kairouan to Sousse. The waggons were initially drawn by horses and later by steam locomotives. The railway was regauged from to gauge in 1896.
External links La gare des Decauville
References