Rail transport in Guinea

Railway lines in Guinea

The railway in the West African country of Guinea has - as in many other African countries too - no coherent railway network. Individual branch lines lead from the coast inland. Today they consist of:

Chemin de fer de Guinée (ONCFG),
Chemins de fer de la Compagnie des Bauxites de Guinée (CBG)
Chemin de fer Conakry and
Chemin de fer de Boke .

History of railway construction and operation in Guinea

At the beginning of the 20th century, several railway lines were planned and built to develop the country - some in standard gauge , some in narrow gauge with a gauge of 1000 mm. The main piece was the so-called Conakry-Niger Railway, built between 1900 and 1914, which connected Conakry with Kankan on a 662 km long route . From there there was a ship connection to Bamako , the capital of Mali .

The current status

The Conakry-Kankan State Railroad

In June 1959, the state company ONCFG (Office National des Chemins de Fer de Guinée) was founded and the previous ownership of the railway administration of the Conakry-Niger region of the former French colonial area AOF ( French West Africa ) was transferred to it.

In the years that followed, this line and the rolling stock were not well maintained. On sections of the route, there are still rails with a mass of only 25 kilograms per running meter. With the exception of fuel transports to Mamou , rail traffic has been suspended since 1993 . In 1994 the activities of the ONCFG were transferred to the SBDT company (Société d'exploitation des gisements de Bauxite de Dabola- Tougué ). This company with a majority Iranian stake was supposed to take over the transit and aluminate from a factory still to be built at Dogomet and also operate passenger trains. However, this project could not be realized.

The progressive development of raw material deposits in the south of the country is connected with a revival of rail traffic in Guinea. To this end, at the end of May 2010, the Guinean government and the Chinese investment company International Fund China (IFC) contractually agreed to expand and build a 286-kilometer railway network. In a first step, the Conakry Express will be rolling from June 2010, which will connect the port and the suburbs of Conakry on a 36-kilometer stretch. Three locomotives and 19 wagons from Chinese production were procured for ongoing operations. At this point in time, ONCFG only had two locomotives made by Alstom in operational condition, which were used in Conakry's suburban traffic.

The railway lines of the mining companies

The 136 km long standard gauge line Kamsar - Boké , built in the early 1970s , is operated by the mining company CBG. It is in relatively good condition: the rails weigh 60 kilograms per meter, are welded together and rest on metal sleepers. 12 million tons of goods are transported annually on this railway line. These are bauxite from the Sangaredi bauxite mine and other minerals from the Kamsar area.

The meter gauge railway Conakry - Fria (mostly as CFCF = Chemin de fer Conakry - Fria) has a length of 143 kilometers and is operated by the Friguia company. The track was built in the years after 1960 and is in an acceptable condition. More than 1 million tons of goods are transported between Fria and Conakry every year (600,000 tons of aluminate, 200,000 tons of petroleum products, 100,000 tons of caustic soda). 70 percent of the trains are driven in double traction, the rest in triple traction. Trains in triple traction transport up to 1580 t net load.

The Conakry - Kindia line has standard gauge and is 105 kilometers long. The operator is the mining company SBK. Bauxite (1.2 million t annually) is transported from Kindia to the port of Conakry.

Future planning

The construction of the Trans-Guinea railway transport will of iron ores of the discovered in 2002 huge deposits at Simandou -Hügel at Moribadou in Forest Guinea in the Southeast to one (also still to be built) Überseehafen at matakan in the prefecture of Forécariah southwest of Conakry allows become.

In addition, the transport of agricultural products (coffee, cotton, bananas, peanuts) would be accelerated and cheaper.

The construction of the more than 650 kilometers long line should begin in 2007. A construction period of six to seven years was estimated. The cost has been estimated at up to $ 17 billion. About 5,000 to 6,000 workers could be employed during construction. More than 1000 jobs would be created in the long term.

The construction of the railroad was mainly prevented by the drop in iron prices, the Ebola epidemic and the resale of the mining rights of the British mining company Rio Tinto Group to the Aluminum Corporation of China .

In 2019, it was decided to build a 135-kilometer route to remove bauxite . The route is scheduled to open in 2021 and will be operated by a consortium from Guinea, Singapore and China . The route will of Santou and Houda to a newly constructed Affinerie for aluminum production in the region Boké lead.