Niamey railway station

Niamey (French: Gare de Niamey), colloquially also known as Niamey Hippodrome, is the main railway station of the city of Niamey, the capital of Niger. Located near the Niamey Racecourse (Hippodrome de Niamey), in Niamey IV borough, is the first station opened in Niger[5][6] and is part of AfricaRail project.

Niamey
Inter-city & Commuter rails[1]
View of rail track and platform
LocationBluezone Niamey,[2] Boulevard du 15 Avril
Hippodrome, Commune IV, Niamey
Niger
Coordinates 13°29′54.48″N 2°8′7.61″E
Owned byGovernment of Niger
Line(s)Niamey-Dosso-Kandi-Parakou-Cotonou[3][4]
Platforms1 (not finalized)
Tracks1 (not finalized)
History
OpenedApril 7, 2014 (2014-04-07)
Rail map of Benin including the line Parakou-Niamey (light red), under construction

History

The station was officially inaugurated on 7 April 2014, with a ceremony and the arrival of the first train.[5][7][8] The ceremony was attended by the Nigerien president Mahamadou Issoufou, along with the presidents of Benin, Thomas Boni Yayi, and Togo, Faure Gnassingbé; and Vincent Bolloré, chairman of the French group Bolloré.[6] The group set up the structures for the reception of invited guests, and a section of 500 m of track for the circulation of the inaugural train, consisting of a diesel locomotive and some passenger cars. In the same day, it was also inaugurated, by the station, the "Bluezone Niamey".[2]

January 29, 2016 the train line Niamey-Dosso of 143 km was inaugurated,[9] but no trains have used the track since (March 2017).[10]

Services and projects

Currently, in 2015, there are no regular services but only tests on a track of 34 km, and educational visits.[11][12] Once ended the station expansion and the line construction, with the junction at the existing station of Parakou, in Benin, Niamey station will be the northern terminus of an international line to Cotonou, the largest Beninese city.[4]

Another future project would provide the construction of a line from Ouagadougou, the Burkinabé capital, that will link Niamey to Abidjan, in Ivory Coast.[13][14]

See also

References
  1. Services still not operating
  2. (in French) Inauguration Bluezone Niamey (Bolloré Africa Logistics website)
  3. The international route Niamey-Parakou is under construction
  4. "Benin-Niger railway project launched" (International Railway Journal)
  5. (in French) "Inauguration of the first train station in Niamey" (Radio France Internationale)
  6. "A long-standing railway ambition" (Niger2020.org)
  7. "A 80 Year-long Wait: Niger Gets its First Train Station" (Global Voices Online)
  8. "First railway in Niger" (RailwaysAfrica)
  9. "SEM Issoufou Mahamadou a inauguré vendredi la voie ferrée Niamey-Dosso". Présidence de la République du Niger. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
  10. Nigerdiaspora (2017-03-25). "Mise en circulation du train : Pourquoi n'a-t-il plus " re-sifflé" ?". Nigerdiaspora.net. Retrieved 2017-05-12.
  11. "Blueline Niger: railway testing begins" (Niger2020.org)
  12. "Nigerien children visit the train station of Niamey" (Niger2020.org)
  13. (in French) "Le Niger sur les rails" (Le Journal International)
  14. "Niger to Ivory Coast rail link lays tracks for African infrastructure expansion" (The Guardian)

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