Railways in
Liberia
Liberia has never had a public railway network, but between the 1960s
and the 1980s three distinct lines were constructed for the transport
of iron ore:
- A 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge line running inland from Monrovia for about
145km. This line closed in 1989 on exhaustion of the iron ore workings.
- Bong Mine Railway a 87km standard (1435mm) gauge line from
Monrovia to Bong Mine. The line closed in the 1990s as a result of civil
war, but reopened in 2006. It carried stockpiled iron ore from the closed
mine to the port, and provided a passenger service between Monrovia and
Bong Mine Town. Services were erratic and appear now to have been reduced
to occasional special trains only (No website located at
present)
- A 250km standard gauge line from Buchanan to Yekepa. This too closed
in the 1990s as a result of civil war. Mittal Steel (now part of
ArcelorMittal) was granted permission to rehabilitate the line in 2006
for the transport of ore to the coast from its Tokadeh mine, about 20km
from Yekepa. The line reopened in 2011. A new line proposed by Vale-BSGR
to transport iron ore from its workings in south eastern Guinea to the
Liberian port of Didia may share part of this route.
