Abidjan–Ouagadougou railway

Now, the railway's main role is servicing international freight traffic (petroleum products, containers, fertilizers, grain, clinker, cement, cotton etc.)

[2] The passenger train serves the following stations: Numerous proposals for establishing railways in the colony of Côte d'Ivoire were made in the 19th century by the French army officers Jean-Baptiste Marchand and Charles Houdaille.

[11] In 1889, the colonial authorities undertook a geographic and ethnographic survey, called la mission Houdaille, to establish whether it would be feasible for a railway to penetrate the interior.

In the early twentieth century, the road network was very limited even in the south, so all local produce - for example kola, palm oil, leather, maize and cotton - was channeled through the railway stations.

Following independence in 1960, the Abidjan–Ouagadougou railway was managed and operated by the Régie des chemins de fer Abidjan-Niger (RAN), a public enterprise jointly owned by Côte d'Ivoire and Upper Volta.

Faced with this crisis, and under pressure from the IMF and the World Bank, the two governments handed over the management of the entire line to the "Sitarail" consortium, an Ivorian private operator.

Sitarail is technically and financially responsible for (a) the operation of freight and passenger services; (b) the maintenance (and in part the renewal) of rail infrastructure (track, structures, buildings, signaling, and telecommunications equipment); and (c) the current management of the real estate.

[18][20][21] Because of extensive track degradation and outdated rolling stock, the Ivorian and Burkinabe governments have drawn up various plans to renovate and improve the railway line: In 2013, a plan to renovate the railway, with the aim of preserving and developing the rail transportation of goods and people between the two countries in satisfactory conditions of safety and comfort.