Rail transport is one of the two main means of overland transport.
Rail transport is one of the two main means of overland transport.
The Managing Director of the Société de gestion du patrimoine ferroviaire (SIPF), Cissé Moustapha, said on Thursday 30 November 2023 in Abidjan, that rail transport represents the future in terms of development and African integration. Speaking on the second day of the 7th edition of the International Forum and African Transport Fair (FISAT), at the exhibition center in Port-Bouët, Mr. Cissé said that the railway has an undeniable advantage with regard to mass transport. "The railway line brings increased traffic, brings many opportunities and supports the development of a region, a country," he argued during a panel entitled "The railway as a factor of development and African integration".
The DG of SIPF added that today the tone is regionalization and that large for which funding is sought are expected. These include the rail loop that will connect Abidjan to Lomé (Togo) via Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and the connection of the Ivorian-Burkinabe network to the Malian network to reach Dakar (Senegal). Add to this the African TGV with four main lines in particular, two lines that leave North Africa to connect South Africa, a large line that goes from Casablanca to Algiers to Tunis and two main transversal lines Dakar-Djibouti. This makes a total of 12,000 kilometres of new tracks and 17,000 kilometres of old tracks, said Hoba Théophile, special advisor to the director general of SITARAIL. "I must say that in Agenda 2063, defined at the level of the African Union for all Africa, all five regions of Africa are addressed," concluded the DG of SIPF.
