'Dakar-Niger' – Slow death of a railway line

Many stations along the 90 year-old railway line are run-down. "Dakar -Niger" was once the most important rail link between the capitals of Senegal and Mali: Bamako and Dakar. Now, the presidents of both countries, Macky Sall and Ibrahim Boubacar Keita, want to revive the route. It will be an enormous task.

Dakar's central station is located at the western end of the almost 1,300 kilometer-long (800 miles) route. But trains have not been running here for a long time. After a serious accident in 2009, passenger services were largely discontinued. Also, the plan to transform the station into a museum has not been realized.

Every evening, the Petit Train de Banlieu travels to Thies, a town about 60 kilometers away from Dakar. The following morning, the "little suburban train" travels back. The journey through poor suburbs of Dakar is slow and so dusty that some passengers wear face masks.

Kayes is located just behind the border with Mali. The town used to live from its railway line. People used to say, every second son in Kayes works for the railway company. But today most of the inhabitants take the minibus if they want to travel the 500 kilometers to the capital Bamako.

A train departs from Kayes to Bamako only twice a week. According to the timetable, the trip should take 15 hours. But frequent breakdowns or derailments make the trip longer. The decline of the once important railway line began decades ago.

Following pressure from the World Bank, the governments of Senegal and Mali had to privatize the railway company in 2003. Since then, the operating company, Transrail, has changed hands repeatedly. The condition of the railway tracks has steadily got worse. According to employees, beds, railway sleepers and tracks are all in urgent need of replacement.