On January 28, as railway workers in Port Sudan awaited their January salaries, an internal “signal” arrived from the accounts department, a formal notice, in railway parlance, used for both internal and external correspondence. It stated that the Central Bank of Sudan had not authorized disbursements for the 2026 fiscal year, effectively halting salary payments.
According to a letter from the accounts administration at Sudan Railways Corp, wage disbursement remains contingent on such authorization.
We will not work for free.
Mohammed Abdelrahman, operations worker
For a month, workers waited, hoping the situation might shift and their pay would arrive. But days slipped by with no resolution in sight, Mohammed Abdelrahman, an operations worker in the eastern sector, told Atar.
On February 27, the Authority’s management received a “signal”, this time from workers in Port Sudan’s eastern sector announcing plans for an open-ended sit-in until a set of demands is met, foremost among them the payment of overdue salaries, arrears and allowances. The workers gave the Authority a 72-hour deadline to respond before launching the protest, declaring: “We will not work for free.”
Their demands, outlined in Signal No. 19, recorded in Logbook 66 at the city station and addressed to department heads and station supervisors, include adjustment allowances for transportation and social benefits for February and March 2025, a payment of 50,000 Sudanese pounds for each worker covering December, January and February, previously approved by the board, along with February’s full salary paid in cash equivalent, and a holiday bonus calculated as a full adjusted salary.
On March 1, a new “signal” reached the workers, this time from railway staff in Haiya, announcing their decision to join their counterparts in Port Sudan in a show of solidarity, pressing for the same rights they are collectively striving to secure.
By March 3, workers in both Port Sudan and Haiya had launched an open-ended sit-in outside the headquarters of the eastern sector of the Sudan Railways Corp in Port Sudan, vowing to remain until their demands were met.
A day later, on March 4, the railway authority convened a meeting in Atbara, producing a package of resolutions. But the timeline for implementation, set for after Eid al-Adha, prompted outright rejection from the workers, who dismissed the outcomes in full and reaffirmed their commitment to the sit-in.
The protest was ultimately suspended on March 8 following an initiative and mediation efforts led by community leaders and local authorities.
Port Sudan was conceived by the British administration as part of a broader effort to build a new urban entity aligned with its vision of the “ideal city”, carefully planned, orderly and efficiently governed. Over the decades, the settlement evolved from a modest harbor known as ‘Sheikh Barout’ into a modern seaport bustling with commercial and industrial activity, drawing labour from across Sudan and beyond. It became, in the words of African history professor Ahmed Al-Awad Sakinja, a cosmopolitan hub.
Through the eastern sector of the Sudan Railways Corp., the city’s Red Sea port is linked to the rest of the country. This corridor serves as the principal artery for transporting imported goods inland, while channeling export crops, such as cotton and sesame, from across Sudan to the port. A branch line extends to Kassala and onward to Gedaref, serving key rain-fed agricultural regions.
Haiya, for its part, stands as a strategic junction, where lines diverge southward toward Kassala, Al-Qadarif and Sinnar, and westward toward Atbara.
Sudan Railways remains one of Africa’s oldest rail networks, with the eastern sector functioning as a vital economical lifeline, connecting the country’s production zones to its main gateway on the Red Sea.
Like other divisions of Sudan Railways, the eastern sector has faced mounting challenges in recent years. Chief among them is the aging infrastructure: much of the track is outdated and requires rail replacement to accommodate higher speeds and heavier loads.
As efficiency has declined, reliance on trucking has grown, driving up transportation costs. Parts of the network in eastern Sudan are also periodically damaged by seasonal rains and flash floods descending from nearby highlands, further disrupting service.
Before the war, however, efforts were underway to modernize the system. These included introducing heavier rail tracks and newer locomotives to expand freight capacity, as well as transitioning to a digital traffic-control system aimed at reducing accidents and improving efficiency. Those initiatives have since stalled, according to a sector official who spoke to Atar.
Dire conditions and heavy-handed decisions
Under Port Sudan’s unforgiving sun, beside railway tracks whose edges have been eaten away by salt and humidity, stands “Uncle Idris,” his face etched with the cartography of three decades of toil. Dust and engine oil have carved deep lines into his skin, marks no sea breeze can wash away.
The union has shifted from a shield for workers into a conduit for enrichment.
Uncle Idris, railway worker and unionist
For 30 years, Idris has kept the rhythm of the trains, gripped his heavy wrench and crawled beneath carriages in the city’s eastern sector. He has watched trains arrive and depart, laden with goods and wealth, while he remained rooted in place, owning no home to shelter his family, with no savings to shield him from hardship. His salary vanishes within the first week, swallowed by the local shopkeeper and medical expenses. Living in two modest mud-brick rooms on the city’s outskirts, he pays rent with half a heart and half a wage; his faded work overalls have become his only attire for both celebrations and mourning.
As Idris has grown more worn, his supposed “comrades in struggle” within the union have grown more prosperous. Those he entrusted to speak on his behalf and champion his rights now reside in upscale neighbourhoods, in spacious villas, driving tinted cars through Port Sudan, vehicles in whose darkened glass, Idris sees only the reflection of his own deprivation, he told Atar.
Idris, his tone uncharacteristically sharp for a man his colleagues describe as reserved, did not mince words:
“The union has shifted from a shield for workers into a conduit for enrichment. Its leaders now shake hands with officials in air-conditioned salons, while people like us are left to confront soaring prices with nothing to fall back on.”
No longer gripping his iron wrench, Idris now holds a worn piece of cardboard. In a trembling hand, he has scrawled a blunt demand:
“I want the rights of 30 years. I want a salary that can feed my children. Our dues in full, no compromise.”
Idris was among those taking part in the sit-in.
When Atar spoke to him before it was suspended, he was seated on the ground outside the administration building, surrounded by co-workers whose stories echo his own. He protested in near silence, not the silence of resignation, but of pressure building before a rupture. His gaze drifted to the railway tracks he had served for decades, and he said they had proven more faithful than the people he once trusted: at least the rails had remained fixed in place, while the consciences of those entrusted with his cause had shifted, trading it away in the marketplace of interests, according to what he told Atar.
“Nothing weighs more heavily on a man than growing old without a roof he can call his own, while others build mansions from the sweat of his brow.” That was how Abdelrahim Taha, a railway worker, summed up his grievance.
“I have spent two decades serving this venerable institution,” he said. “We entered it with youthful faces and left with bent backs, our bodies worn down by illness and damp.”
Taha questioned the logic of a system that leaves long-serving workers with so little to show for their labour.
“How is it possible for a man to give 20 years or more and not own even a single brick of a home to shelter him?” he asked.
“It makes no sense that our salaries cannot withstand market prices for more than a week, forcing us to spend the rest of the month trapped in debt and borrowing.”
Taha added that January and February wages remain unpaid. The workers, he said, are not seeking extraordinary privileges but a fair salary that preserves their dignity, along with long-standing entitlements to housing and compensation for years of grueling service.
Workers in the eastern sector of Sudan Railways face extremely challenging conditions, and their protests escalated in early 2026 amid a buildup of both economic and administrative pressures.
Current salaries hover around 120,000 Sudanese pounds (about $35, based on an exchange rate of 1 USD = 3,375.12 SDG), a sum insufficient to cover basic needs in a country beset by inflation.
“My entire salary barely buys a single gas cylinder, which sells for 74,000 pounds in Port Sudan and Atbara,” Mustafa Taha, an administrative worker in Port Sudan, told Atar, adding:
“In any case, it doesn’t even last me five days of the month.”
He noted that wages have not seen meaningful adjustments to match the economic reality for many years, specifically since 2012.
An engineer and board member at Sudan Railways who requested anonymity, confirmed widespread discontent over administrative decisions that transferred or summoned members of workers’ committees for investigation, actions employees view as attempts to undermine their unity. These reversals have become a central demand of the ongoing sit-in.
Workers who spoke to Atar also complained of lack of internal and external training opportunities, which has led to a decline in technical skills in a sector that is highly sensitive and evolving daily with new technologies.
Meanwhile, workshops and stations are grappling with a severe shortage of spare parts and modern equipment, a deficit that amplifies the physical strain on workers and heightens occupational risks.
A well-placed source within Sudan Railways told Atar that the authority recently resorted to contracting commercial trucks to compensate for the shortfall in train capacity. One union official criticized the move, warning that it poses a threat to the railway’s role as a national institution and could undermine its long-term viability.
Union vacuum and a crisis of trust
The core issue is the lack of trust between workers and management.
Sit-in committee leader (anonymous)
Amin Ali Al-Hassan, a union representative at Atbara’s Sudan Railways office, told Atar that the absence of effective union leadership has created a void among workers.
He described the announcement of the sit-in by train operations staff in Port Sudan as a “positive step” and said the protest stems in large part from the institution’s reluctance to implement board-approved salary adjustments and arrears.
A leader from the eastern sector’s sit-in committee, who requested anonymity, echoed these concerns, describing the sector as facing a “serious crisis.”
He said resolving it requires what he called a firm stance.
“The core issue is the lack of trust between workers and management,” he explained. “Employees are unable to speak openly about their legitimate rights because an apparatus of authoritarian decisions, transfers, and displacements stands ready to punish them.”
He added that the crisis is exacerbated by a lack of transparency. The workers’ initial demands include wage increases, promotion files, housing maintenance, investment oversight, addressing administrative and financial corruption, reversing deterioration, reviewing appointments and training programmes, and auditing resources.
“Most importantly, we need a thorough review of land, encroachments, and investment properties,” he said, calling for the dismissal of the general manager, his deputies, and regional directors.
Speaking to Atar, Sheikh Eldin Hamed Okir, a worker in the eastern sector’s operations department, said the administration must be overhauled.
I know a switchman, qatarji, whose monthly bonus is 2,000 pounds, and sometimes he doesn’t receive it at all,
Sheikh Eldin Hamed Okir, a worker in the eastern sector’s operations department
“It is inconceivable that workers earn between 120,000 and 170,000 Sudanese pounds while managers are preoccupied with bonuses, dismiss temporary staff hired seasonally to fill gaps at stations or workshops, and bring in inexperienced replacements,” he said.
Okir revealed that workers’ incentives range from 3,000 to 5,000 pounds per month.
“I know a switchman, qatarji, whose monthly bonus is 2,000 pounds, and sometimes he doesn’t receive it at all,” he added.
Okir described the railway authority as being in its worst state in years. “The current management is not focused on workshops or workers’ conditions. They are busy trading in the institution’s real estate while employees are denied access to housing within it,” he said, urging the federal government to intervene and rescue the institution.
“Everyone in the management is retired and therefore detached from the hardships that workers face,” he added.
A worker in the eastern sector’s operations department, who is participating in the sit-in and requested anonymity, told Atar that he submitted a housing application to the railway authority in 2009 but is yet to receive accommodation.
He said he knows someone living in a railway-owned house who has no connection to the sector or the institution, but is related to an official within the authority. He added that some employees appointed less than five years ago have already been granted housing, while he continues to wait.
“I also know colleagues who retired upon reaching the legal age but never received housing, they now live in rented accommodations,” he said. Another worker revealed that he submitted a housing request in 1998, yet retired employees continue to occupy railway housing long after leaving service.
Suspending the sit-in or postponing the crisis
On the evening of March 8, the workers suspended their sit-in. According to a letter from the executive administration and public relations of Sudan Railways, the suspension came “as a generous initiative, facilitated by mediation from community leaders and local authorities, and as a gesture of goodwill.”
The letter stated that the general manager ordered a board-approved bonus of 100,000 Sudanese pounds for each worker to be paid before the Eid al-Fitr holiday.
Payment of the Eid bonus itself was postponed until after the March salary, no later than the end of April. The third month of the three-month bonus programme, along with any outstanding arrears, is scheduled for disbursement before July 30.
The directive also canceled the summonses for Line Inspector Abdelrahim Abdel Daem and Station Supervisor Hamad Issa, who had been called for investigation in Atbara.
The general manager emphasized that the union remains the sole legitimate representative of the workers and that no other party is authorized to address workers’ demands through any media intermediary.
The workers rejected the letter issued by management and only suspended their sit-in pending the fulfillment of the promises, despite not accepting them as adequate since they fall far short of the demands that prompted the protest.
“We responded to the sit-in committee’s request to suspend the protest, but we will review this letter later and escalate our efforts to secure our rights,” one of the striking workers told Atar.
Another worker questioned the role of community authorities in the matter.
“What business do they have in this? We are wronged by management and have our rights, why involve local authorities?” he said, adding:
“This is a dispute between the worker and the manager alone. I have no tribal objections to the involvement of community authorities.”
The workers also rejected labeling their protest as the “Eastern Sit-In.”
Taher Karboos, an operations worker, told Atar that such a designation frames the movement in a regional and sectarian context.
“The participants are employees from across Sudan,” he said.
“There is no reason to confine the sit-in to eastern Sudan just because the sector is called the ‘eastern sector.’ This is purely a geographic term used for administrative purposes and has no connection to any particular region or group.”
In a related development, a well-informed source at the Federal Ministry of Finance told Atar that the Central Bank of Sudan will not authorize the ministry to release salaries for Sudan Railways employees.
The source explained that the railway authority submitted a “zero-budget” for the current fiscal year, meaning revenues equal expenditures, and therefore no funds flow into the ministry’s treasury. Even if the Central Bank were to permit payment, it would effectively be an advance.
“Sudan Railways has been submitting zero-budget proposals for some time,” the source added. “What is disbursed in the first quarter as salaries functions merely as a monthly subsidy, and this situation cannot continue for long.”
Several workers interviewed by Atar described the promises made by the railway authority as “empty pledges.”
“The amounts they speak of are trivial and will lose their value because the payment schedules are far off. Workers need these funds now.” Abdelrahman Al-Faki, an administrative employee, said.
“We did not want to suspend the sit-in, but we will wait and see. If they fulfill their promises, we will return,” he added.
Worker Faki Oshik Mohamed Deen said employees increasingly feel unprotected and fear their rights will be ignored unless they unite and agree on a single, coordinated stance.
A former union official, who worked at Sudan Railways in Atbara and is now retired, told Atar that the promises emerging from the board meeting, even if implemented, fall short of workers’ expectations and ambitions.
“Sit-ins are often suspended based on government pledges or partial settlements. But these rarely hold up, due to their weakness and the failure of those who made them to follow through,” he said, warning that such partial solutions erode trust, leaving workers feeling that union leaders or negotiating parties have accepted “half-measures” that fail to cover the rising cost of living.
He noted that, in times of inflation, commitments that seemed reasonable a month ago can lose their value by the moment they are executed.
The official added that workers’ contemplation of returning to the sit-in signals that the underlying causes of the crisis remain unaddressed. He emphasized that strikes and sit-ins are among the most powerful tools available to labour, but repeating them sporadically and without organization risks exhausting the workforce and diminishing momentum.
He pointed out that Port Sudan railway employees understand that their stoppage halts a key supply artery for the country, placing them under significant ethical pressure between asserting their personal rights and safeguarding the public interest.
