West Africa Regional Rail Integration

The West Africa Regional Rail Integration is a proposal to connect up isolated railway networks in West Africa.

In 2009, USTDA approved funding of $750,000 for a feasibility study grant to assist the Union économique et monétaire ouest-africaine (UEMOA), in determining the technical and economic viability of developing a rail line from Bamako, Mali to Mali's southeastern border with Côte d’Ivoire, as well as its associated costs, design and construction criteria, and implementation plan. The study will also include a technical assessment on the existing rail line between Dakar, Senegal and Bamako, which would be linked to the proposed rail line. The total cost of the proposed line is expected to exceed $1.9 billion.

The 15-month railway study USTDA contract was authorized to begin in October 2010. ZETA-TECH Associates of Cherry Hill NJ (NOW Harsco Rail Intelligent Solutions) undertook the study with other companies assisting, including the Law Offices of Peter C. Hansen, LLC, which analyzed the existing legal framework and drafted a treaty to modernize the ownership structure and facilitate long-term financing of the revitalized railway. A final report was delivered in December 2012, and a French translated copy was accepted by UEMOA in March 2013.

No progress reported on that announcement as of the summer of 2012

In October 2012 UEMOA held a meeting to at its Burkina Faso headquarters to review and discuss the initial draft final report of the USTDA funded rail project. The consulting team presented four different capital cost modernization plans. One would be for just minimum safety changes. The most forward would support a possible 10 million ton modernized standard gauge conversion rail project—with the earliest train operations occurring sometime around 2017 between Dakar and Bamako. The requirements would include an integrated plan execution with mine + rail + port + a new Railway 2-nation Authority—if the project consultant suggestions are followed. Building just the railway without integrating these other transport and customer commercial actions was recommended as a critical process for moving towards a final total plan.

The Bamako to the south railway corridor has a separate set of competitive issues and technical costs associated with it.

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