Senegal has entered a new era of mass transport after Monday’s launch by President Macky Sall of an express train with a 115,000-passenger capacity per day that will ease the country’s transportation conundrums.
By Ibrahima Dione
December 27, 2021 was a great ground-breaking day for Senegal.
Never since its independence has the country overseen a railway project to its natural completion.
For President Sall, the Regional Express Train (TER) “carries the ambition of progress, well-being and modernity” for his country.
The TER, which is linked to the Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE), is “the result of an innovative financial arrangement based on a 2 percent concessional loan spread over 25 years,” according to a statement seen by APA.
Its cost is estimated at 780 billion CFA francs excluding taxes, including 76 billion for the release of rights of way and 10 billion for social projects.
The Islamic Development Bank (IDB, 197 billion CFA francs), the African Development Bank (ADB, 120 billion CFA francs), France Total (196.6 billion CFA francs), the French Development Agency (AFD, 65 billion CFA francs), the Treasury (53.6 billion CFA francs), the budgetary support (65 billion CFA francs), the Public Investment Bank (Bpifrance, 13 billion CFA francs) have participated in the project, the financing of which has been completed by the Senegalese state.
Bimodal train
The regional express train runs on electricity and thermal power.
Running on two standard tracks and one metric track of 36 kilometres each, “it has a speed of 160 kilometres per hour”.
In total, fourteen localities will be served between Dakar and Diamniadio stations for a journey of 45 minutes.
Fares are set at 500 CFA francs (Dakar-Thiaroye), 1000 CFA francs (Dakar-Rufisque), 1500 CFA francs (Dakar-Diamniadio) and 2500 CFA francs for first class.
Seven days a week, a four-car train with a maximum capacity of 565 passengers will run every 20 minutes from 5am to 10pm.
All passengers will benefit from air conditioning, plus Wi-Fi, computer shelves, reading lights and 220-volt sockets for first-class passengers.
In the second phase of TER, an additional 19 kilometres of track will be built to link Diamniadio to the Blaise Diagne International Airport (AIBD) by the end of 2023.
Eventually, the train will also whistle to Mbour and Thiès (West).
Local impact
The fifteen trainsets for the regional express train came straight out of the factories of French group Alstom.
In the course of realising this mega project, which began five years ago, “8,500 Senegalese worked in the construction of the route and 2,000 indirect employees for ancillary and non-traffic services.”
The state contracted Senegalese companies and several small and medium-sized local firms were also involved, notably in the subcontracting and the supply of materials and their transportation.
A rigorous selection process, following a call for tenders for 68,500 curriculum vitae, made it possible to recruit 1,000 direct employees for the operation of the TER, according to the government.
All of the TER’s infrastructure belongs to the Senegalese state, which has entrusted its management to the Société nationale de gestion du patrimoine du Train express régional (SENTER).
The latter has subcontracted the operation and maintenance to the Société d’exploitation du Ter (SETER).
The contract covers “a period allowing for an effective transfer of skills”, according to the statement.
The Senegalese state holds a 34 percent stake in SETER and 100 percent in SENTER.
Decongest Dakar
Dakar, which accounts for 0.3 percent of the national territory holds one fifth of Senegal’s 17 million people and almost all of the country’s economic activities.
Traffic jams cost the city 99.7 billion CFA or 152 million euros every year, according to a recent study by the Government Information Office (BIG).
According to President Sall, all Senegalese citizens “deserve to travel in comfort and safety, controlling their time with a mass transport system that meets the best international standards”.
The TER, “the first of its kind in West Africa”, will create, according to the Senegalese leader, “new income-generating activities in stops and stations and strengthen the vocation of development centres such as Diamniadio, the Diass economic zone, the new Blaise Diagne International Airport and surrounding localities”.
ID/lb/as/APA