The line opened a trade route from central Sudan through Egypt to the Mediterranean and beyond. It became uneconomic because of the distance and the need for trans-shipment via the Nile, and in 1904 construction of a new line from Atbarah to the Red Sea was undertaken with the line complete in October 1905.[1] In 1906 the new line reached recently built Port Sudan to provide a direct connection between Khartoum and ocean-going transport.[2]