Guinea
2.4 Guinea Railway Assessment
Home

Guinea Railways

For information on Guinea Conakry Railway company contact details, please see the following link: 4.10 Guinea Railway Company Contact List

Even though it appears on the maps, in reality the railway between Conakry and Kankan does not exist anymore (the rails themselves were either sold or taken away). Currently there are four different railways operating in Guinea:

  • Bauxite railway company – Conakry railway (CBG)
  • Conakry - Kindia: A standard gauge railway line with a length of 105 km. The route is operated by the state owned mining company Societé des Bauxites de Kindia (SBK). The transport includes the delivery of bauxite (annually 1,2 million mt) from Kindia to Conakry harbour.
  • Boké railway: The Northern Line of 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge (standard gauge) carries about 12 million mt per annum. The route is: Port Kamsar – port Boké - Sangarédi - bauxite mine. The Company de Bauxite du Guinea (CBG), assisted by the Aluminum Corporation of America (Alcoa), operates the Boké Railway, which has been quietly getting on with heavy haul for the last 40 years with six-daily 13,000-ton bauxite trains behind pairs of EMD SD40-2 locomotives.
  • Conakry Express: The Chinese International Funding (CIF) funded initiative delivered a passenger rail transport system in June 2010 which provides a 30 km of service in Conakry area. This public railway service between Conakry and Simbaya (36 km) runs once a day in each direction.

One of the major projects in the near future will be to rehabilitate the Conakry - Kankan rail network. A Chinese company has started the renovation to join Kindia to Kankan and up to Bamako. The main network function is to transfer mine products from the site of production to the port Kamsar or Conakry. Guinea has 1,086 km of railways.

The transport company AMA Africa is in partnership with the company RUSAL which is realizing a container terminal station at Debele near Kindia (Road N1 from Conakry, direction Mamou). It is possible to transport the containers by railway from Conakry port to Debelé / Kindia; this train connection is today used by RUSAL for Bauxite transportation from Kimbo. The Surface of the Debele site is 36,000 m² which can accommodate 300 TEU in the first phase. This dry port is dedicated to the Mali corridor; after the containers arrival by train at Debelé dry port, the containers should be positioned on trucks to reach Bamako via Kankan as there is no railway to Kankan.

Proposed Trans-Guinean Railways: The heavy duty Trans-Guinean Railways is about 750 km long and would be 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) (standard gauge). It goes from iron ore mines in the south east and bauxite mines in the north to a new port at Matakong. The route would be: Matakong - Deepwater port - Forécariah - Madina Woula (way station) - Bambafouga(junction) – Marela (way station) - Faranah - Tiro – Kissidougou (way station) - Macenta - Koule - Nzerekore - Lola – Simandou (iron ore deposit) - Diéké – Nimba (iron ore) – Pontiola (bauxite) – Tougué (branch terminus - bauxite).

The SGTE Société Générale de Technique et d'Études is the National company for rehabilitation and modernisation of the Railways of Guinea.

The Conakry Express, operating between Petit Bateau and K36, has the following schedule: 

Km

 

Departure /
Arrival 

Monday-Friday

Monday-Friday

Monday-Friday

0

PORTOVOYA (Petit Bâteau)

d

.

08.47

17.25

.

COLÉAH

d

.

08.57

17.35

.

DIXINN GARE

d

.

09.07

17.49

.

DAR ES SALAAM

d

.

09.20

18.04

.

CAMP ALPHA YAYA

d

.

09.30

18.14

.

SIMBAYA (Cantine SBK)

a

.

09.40

18.24

.

SIMBAYA (Cantine SBK)

d

06.00

.

18.29

.

WANINDARA

d

06.09

.

18.39

.

SONFONIA

d

06.20

.

18.49

.

CIMENTERIE

d

06.30

.

18.59

36

KILOMÈTRE 36

a

06.40

.

19.06

Railway Companies and Consortia

For information on Guinea Conakry Railway company contact details, please see the following link: 4.10 Guinea Railway Company Contact List

Key Route Information

Central Line

This line is 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge and heads in a northwestern direction from Conakry (capital and port) - Dubréka - Fria - bauxite mine.

Southern Line

This line is 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) gauge, but conversion to 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge has been proposed. The route is: Conakry (capital and port) - Kindia (provincial capital) - Kolèntèn - Konkouré (several km north of railway) - Mamou (provincial capital) - Kégnégo - Dabola (junction and break of gauge) - Bissikrima - Cisséla - Kouroussa (bridge over Niger River) - Kankan (terminus and provincial capital) - Dabola (junction and break of gauge) - Tougué (bauxite).

South west line

This line is 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) and parallels the Southern line. The route is: Conakry (capital and port) - Kindia - bauxite mine.

 

Jump to top