Senegal Railway Assessment

There are 906 km of railway. There is one line covering Dakar-Bamako. The Dakar to Bamako line was privatized in 2003 and it is run by Transrail, which until 2007 was owned by Canac (Canada). In 2007, Canac was bought by Savage (US). It sold is stake in Transrail to Vecturis (Belgium) who operates the line. Trains on the Dakar-Bamako line run every 8 or 9 days. There is no set schedule. In 2005, weekly service began but it has been scaled back because of engineering work on the line. The 648 mile train trip takes more then two days. The track is dilapidated and accidents are frequent. A derailment on May 14, 2009 killed 5 people and injured 37. In June 2008, the Ministries of Transport of Senegal and Mali issued a joint declaration that said the privatization of the Dakar-Bamako had failed and Transrail “had not succeeded in managing the routes more efficiently than the former national rail companies.”

For information on Senegal Government contacts, please see the following link: 4.1 Senegal Government Contact List

Travel Time Matrix

Time to destination in the best conditions of the rails and if everything goes well during the travel.

Note: The information provided has been taken from the old LCA has been adjusted to suit the structure of the new LCA

Railway Companies and Consortia

The former Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Sénégal (SNCS) was privatised along with the Mali system in 2003, when a 25-year concession was awarded to Transrail SA. Transrail now operates the complete former Dakar-Niger railway from Dakar to Bamako (1,232 km) in both Senegal and Mali.

For railway company contact details,please see the following link: 4.9 Senegal Railway Company Contact List

Capacity Table

Information on railway capacity unavailable

Key Route Information

The rails network is very old and it takes a lot of money to maintain it. Transrail maintain it so far but it takes most of it's resources.

Key Stations

Key Station information unavailable

For additional information on the Senegal Railway Network, please see the following document: Senegal Railway Additional Information