Mauritania Railway

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map of the line
Mauritania Railway
Legend
Cansado
0km Nouadhibou
 460km Choum
Choum Tunnel (Disused)
Western Sahara/Mauritania Border
Western Sahara/Mauritania Border
625km Fderik
650km Zouerat
670km Guelb El Rhein mine
700km M'Haoudat mine
This route map:

The Mauritania Railway is the national railway of Mauritania. Opened in 1963,[1] it consists of a single, 704-kilometre (437 mi) railway line linking the iron mining centre of Zouerate with the port of Nouadhibou, via Fderik and Choum. The state agency Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière (National Mining and Industrial Company, SNIM) controls the railway line.

Since the closure of the Choum Tunnel, a 5 km section of the railway cuts through the Polisario Front controlled part of the Western Sahara (21°21′18″N 13°00′46″W / 21.354867°N 13.012644°W / 21.354867; -13.012644)).

Traffic

Trains on the railway are up to 2.5 kilometres (1.6 mi) in length,[2] making them among the longest and heaviest in the world. They consist of 3 or 4 diesel-electric EMD locomotives, 200 to 210 cars each carrying up to 84 tons of iron ore, and a variable number of service cars. The total traffic averages 16.6 million tons per year.
Mauritania Railway train at the station in Nouadhibou

Passengers are also occasionally transported by train; these services are managed by an SNIM subsidiary, the ATTM Society (Société d'assainissement, de travaux, de transport et de maintenance). Passenger cars are sometimes attached, but more often passengers simply ride atop the ore hopper cars.

Locomotives

In October 2010, SNIM ordered a batch of six SD70ACS locomotives from EMD, with special modifications for operating in high temperatures.[3]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ "Mauritania, a Nation of Moorish Nomads, Suddenly Finds Herself in 20th Century". The New York Times. January 20, 1964. "last June, the 20th century elbowed its way into this Biblical picture" 
  2. ↑ "The ore train". Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière. Retrieved December 17, 2008. 
  3. ↑ "Railway Gazette: High temperature locomotives ordered from EMD". Retrieved 2010-10-30. 

Further reading

  • Robinson, Neil (2009). World Rail Atlas and Historical Summary. Volume 7: North, East and Central Africa. Barnsley, UK: World Rail Atlas Ltd. ISBN 978-954-92184-3-5. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mauritania Railway.
Rail transport in Africa
Sovereign states
  • Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic
  • Somaliland
Dependencies and
other territories
  • Canary Islands / Ceuta / Melilla / Plazas de soberanía (Spain)
  • Madeira (Portugal)
  • Mayotte / Réunion (France)
  • Saint Helena / Ascension Island / Tristan da Cunha (United Kingdom)
  • Western Sahara


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