Transport in Guinea

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File:Strada Conakry- Boffa Guinea.jpg
Three men hold on to the back of a moving matatu, Guinea, 2014.

Transport in Guinea is composed by a variety of systems that people in the country use to get around as well as to and from domestic and international destinations. The railway from Conakry to Kankan ceased operating in the mid-1980s.[1] Most vehicles in Guinea are 20+ years old, and cabs are any four-door vehicle which the owner has designated as being for hire. Domestic air services are intermittent. Conakry International Airport is the largest airport in the country, with flights to other cities in Africa as well as to Europe.

Locals, nearly entirely without vehicles of their own, rely upon these taxis (which charge per seat) and small buses to take them around town and across the country. There is some river traffic on the Niger and Milo rivers. Horses and donkeys pull carts, primarily to transport construction materials.

Iron mining at Simandou (North and South blocks) in the southeast is leading to the construction of a new heavy-haul standard gauge railway and deep-water port. Bauxite mining at Kalia in the east is may link to this line.

Railways

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File:Railways in Guinea.svg
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  1000 mm gauge tracks
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  1435 mm gauge tracks

total: 1,155km
standard gauge: 366km Template:RailGauge gauge
metre gauge: 789km Template:RailGauge gauge (includes 662km in common carrier service from Kankan to Conakry)[2]

The lines do not all connect.

Santou - Dapilon

This 125km long standard gauge railway connects bauxite mines in the Santou II and Houda areas with a new port at Dapilon, both places in the north of Guinea.[3][4]

See: Boffa-Boke Railway

Chemin de Fer de Boké

This 136km long standard gauge railway connects bauxite mines at Sangaredi with Port Kamsar and carries about Template:Convert per annum.

Chemin de fer de Conakry – Fria

This 127km line is Template:RailGauge gauge and heads off in a northwestern direction. It shares its first 16km with Chemin de Fer de Guinee.

Chemin de Fer de Guinee

This 662km line is Template:RailGauge gauge. Conversion to Template:RailGauge gauge has been proposed.

Societe des Bauxites de Kindia (SBK)

This 105km line is standard gauge and parallels the Chemin de Fer de Guinee line between Canakry and Sofonia.

TransGuinean Railway (under construction 2025)

The Transguinean Railway will be 622km long and of Template:RailGauge (standard gauge). It goes from Simandou iron ore mines in the south east to a new port at Matakong.[5][6]

Timeline

2021

  • Santou - Dapilon commenced operation.

2019

2008

  • July 2008 - wobbles over Simandou leases [8]
  • four ex-Croatian locomotives refurbished and regauged in Russia [9]

1994

Statistics

Highways

total: 30,500 km
paved: 5,033 km
unpaved: 25,467 km (1996 est.)

The Trans–West African Coastal Highway crosses Guinea, connecting it to Bissau (Guinea-Bissau), and when construction in Sierra Leone and Liberia is complete, to a total of 13 other nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Waterways

1,295 km navigable by shallow-draft native craft

Ports and harbors

Merchant marine

none (1999 est.)

Airports

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Airports - with paved runways

total: 5
over 3,047 m: 1
2,438 to 3,047 m: 1
1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 (1999 est.)

The airport code for the capital, Conakry, is CKY.

Airports - with unpaved runways

total: 10
1,524 to 2,437 m: 5
914 to 1,523 m: 4
under 914 m: 1 (1999 est.)

See also

References

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  9. Railway Gazette International February 2008 p73
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External links

Template:Guinea topics Template:Africa in topic