Abstract
In view of the crucial role, railways have played historically inland transportation, the West African region still endure to provide an efficient transport system. While road transport has been almost the exclusive predominant transportation mode in the region, the railway is now showing a global comeback. In the absence of a new phase of modernization at the international standard, it is unavoidable that the high demand for mobility of its increasing population and the full exploitation of its natural resource endowment will be constrained. This study presents the past, present, and future developments of the railway sector. The first section includes the brief historical development of the railways, the determinants choices of their location, and the influential parameters for their construction. The second section deals with the present state of the railway infrastructure, operational performance, and railway sector institutions. The last section provides some recent investment in the key construction projects at a national level.
Highlights
A global renaissance has recently been felt in railway transportation through the total length of its network and annual traffic units
Prior to the construction of the railway which is considered as colonialists’ first ally, colonial engineers used to imposed their order on the unknown African landscape, control times and distances within the unspecified territory (Scotto, 2018), which will avoid the difficulties or confrontation from different colonial powers as it was the case on the French Guinea railway construction between British and French (Thomas, 1957)
Sustainable railway transport has proved to play a crucial role than road mode when socioeconomic and environmental costs are considered
Summary
A global renaissance has recently been felt in railway transportation through the total length of its network and annual traffic units. This revival of the railways is pertaining to their considerable socio-economic, environmental costs and benefits generated by the transport sector (Bayane & Yanjun, 2017). There is an opportune chance to develop railway when combining the apparent economic growth in West Africa in addition to the arisen middle class and unutilized resources (Olievschi, 2013). The objective of this paper is to present the past, present, and future development of the railway transportation system in West Africa. The future development comprises of investment and key construction projects on the railway sector
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