The first railway in Côte d’Ivoire, then part of French West Africa, opened in 1905 from Abidjan to Azaguié, a distance of some 70km. It was built to metre gauge, then in common use for minor railways in France. The line was extended in stages to Ouagadougou in Haute Volta (present day Burkina Faso), which it reached in 1954. The 660km section of this line that lies within Côte d’Ivoire remains the only railway in the country.
After the two countries gained independence in 1960, the railway was jointly administered by the two governments. The situation prevailed until 1994, when a concession for the entire railway was awarded to a private operator, Sitarail.
In 2010, a project was revived for the exploitation of iron ore deposits in the Mount Nimba area in the northwest of the country, near the borders of Liberia and Guinea. This would involve the construction of a new 737km standard (1435mm) gauge line from Mount Nimba to the port of San Pedro. Plans for such an operation first emerged at the beginning of the 21st century but were shelved in consequence of the civil war of 2002, which left the area in a prolonged state of unrest.
© 2006-2011
Glyn Williams
Flag image from CIA World Factbook
