The history of rail transport in Mauritania began in 1940, with the commencement of preparatory work for the construction of the Mauritania Railway, a single track, 704 km (437 mi) standard gauge line connecting a then proposed iron mine in Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou, via Fderik and Choum. Construction of the line began in 1961 and was completed in 1963. [1]
The line follows the northern border of Mauritania. Under the influence of the French colonial administration of what was then French West Africa, it was designed and built to European standards by the joint stock Societe Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie (MIFERMA). Since 1974, it has been owned by the parastatal Societe Nationale Industrielle et Minière (SNIM).
At about 460 km (286 mi) from Nouadhibou, the Mauritania Railway originally passed through the 2 km (1 mi) long and steeply graded Choum Tunnel, to avoid passing through part of the Río de Oro territory in Western Sahara, which was then occupied by Spain.
Since the end of the Western Sahara War in 1991, a 14 km (9 mi) diversion of the line has been built through the Polisario-controlled Free Zone of Río de Oro, thus enabling the closure of the Choum Tunnel.
The line has been used to carry passengers as well as iron ore. It was operated initially by French built Alstom Class CC 01-21 locomotives, but these have been gradually phased out since 1997 and replaced with EMD SDL40-2 motive power.
last June, the 20th century elbowed its way into this Biblical picture
Citizens of Mauritania have various transportation methods. Railways and highways connect major cities in the country. Mauritania is a coastal country so there are many ports along its coast and there are a few big rivers that run through the country. Lastly, there are 26 airports spread out throughout the country.
Transport in Western Sahara is very limited by sea, road and air with camels being the primary means of transportation in the desert area. Road transport by buses remain the major mode of transportation. The longest conveyor belt in the world is 100 kilometres (62 mi) long, from the phosphate mines of Bu Craa to the coast south of Laayoune. The belt moves about 2,000 metric tons of rock containing phosphate every hour from the mines to El-Aaiun, where it is loaded and shipped.
The Société nationale des chemins de fer français is France's national state-owned railway company. Founded in 1938, it operates the country's national rail traffic along with Monaco, including the TGV, on France's high-speed rail network. Its functions include operation of railway services for passengers and freight, as well as maintenance and signalling of rail infrastructure. The railway network consists of about 35,000 km (22,000 mi) of route, of which 2,600 km (1,600 mi) are high-speed lines and 14,500 km (9,000 mi) electrified. About 14,000 trains are operated daily.
Nouadhibou is the second largest city in Mauritania and serves as a major commercial center. The city itself has about 118,000 inhabitants expanding to over 140,000 in the larger metropolitan area. It is situated on a 65-kilometre peninsula or headland called Ras Nouadhibou, Cap Blanc, or Cabo Blanco, of which the western side has the city of La Güera. Nouadhibou is consequently located merely a couple of kilometers from the border between Mauritania and Morocco. Its current Mayor is Elghassem Ould Bellali, who was installed on 15 October 2018.
Zouérat is the largest town in northern Mauritania and the capital of the Tiris Zemmour region, with an approximate population of 44,649 (2013). It lies at the eastern end of the Mauritania Railway to Nouadhibou.
The Chemin de fer Arnaud, now Chemin de fer Arnaud Quebec is a private Canadian short line railway owned by Société ferroviaire et portuaire de Pointe-Noire (SFPPN) operating in the province of Quebec.
The Trans-Gabon Railway is the only railway in Gabon. It runs 670 km (420 mi) east from Owendo port station in Libreville to Franceville via numerous stations, the main ones being Ndjolé, Lopé, Booué, Lastoursville and Moanda.
The Mauritania Railway is the national railway of Mauritania. Construction of the line began in 1960, with its opening in 1963. It consists of a single, 704-kilometre (437 mi) railway line linking the iron mining centre of Zouérat with the port of Nouadhibou, via Fderik and Choum. The state agency Société nationale industrielle et minière (SNIM) controls the railway line.
Choum is a town in northern Mauritania, lying in the Adrar Region close to the border with Western Sahara. In the year 2000, Choum had a population of 2,735.
The Chemins de Fer de Provence is a small rail company providing a daily train service between Nice and Digne-les-Bains in Provence. Their single remaining route, which dates from the 1890s and known locally as the Train des Pignes, is a metre-gauge railway, mostly single-track with passing loops at some stations. Between Pont-de-Gueydan and Saint-Sauveur-sur-Tinée the line runs through the valley of the Var. Most stops are upon request only and some do not have a built platform.
The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Tunisiens, abbreviated SNCFT, is the national railway of Tunisia and under the direction of the Ministry of Transport. SNCFT was founded on December 27, 1956 It Replaced the Tunisian Railway Farms Company (CFT). Headquartered in Tunis the company employs about 6000 people. SNCFT provides both passenger and freight services at a national level.
The National Rail Transportation Company is Algeria's national railway operator. The SNTF, a state-owned company, currently has a monopoly over Algeria's rail network of 3,973 km (2,469 mi), although it is currently utilising only 3,572 km (2,220 mi). Out of the total railway network, 2,888 km (1,795 mi) are 1,435 mmstandard gauge and 1,085 km (674 mi) are 1,055 mm narrow gauge.
Cansado is a coastal town in north-western Mauritania on the Ras Nouadhibou peninsula. It is located in the Nouadhibou Department in the Dakhlet Nouadhibou region.
Guinea has 1,086 km of railways. This includes 279 km at 1,435 mm gauge and 807 km at 1,000 mm gauge. The latter includes 662 km in common carrier service from Kankan to Conakry.
The Société du chemin de fer de la Gaspésie is a Canadian short line railway located in eastern Quebec operating 202.2 mi (325.4 km) of track from its interchange with Canadian National Railway (CN) at Matapédia in the west to the end of the line at Gaspé in the east, along the south coast of the Gaspé Peninsula.
The history of rail transport in Luxembourg began in 1846 and continues to the present day.
The MIFERMA Class CC 01-21 diesel locomotives were built by Alsthom in France between 1961 and 1965. The locomotives had been commissioned by the Sociéte Anonyme des Mines de Fer de Mauritanie (MIFERMA), then the owner of the Mauritania Railway, which, since its completion in 1963, has connected the iron ore mine in Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou, Mauritania.
The Mauritania–Western Sahara border is 1,564 kilometres (972 mi) in length and runs from the tripoint with Algeria in the north-east to the Atlantic Ocean in the south-west.
The Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK) was a railway operator in the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo and later in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zaire. Most of the lines were in the southern Katanga Province, with links to the Kasai River for transport of mineral exports down to Kinshasa and onward to the port of Matadi, and a link to the Angolan railway network for transport to Lobito on the Atlantic.
