- Transport in Niger
Railways
0 km
Railway links with adjacent countries
* Nigeria - no - 1067 mm gauge
* Benin - no - 1000 mm
* Mali - no - 1000 mm
* Algeria - no - 1435 mm
* Libya - no - 1435 mm plannedWere any railways in Niger to interconnect with railways of adjacent countries, choosing the best gauge will be tricky. 1067 mm matches the gauge of the regional powerhouse of Nigeria, although Nigeria has ambitious plans to convert to 1435mm. 1435 mm matches the gauge of North Africa and Europe. 1000 mm, while quite common, is fragmented and used by minor countries. Fortunately, it is possible to build plain track suitable for all three (see Dual gauge).
2007
* Niger would be a participant in the
AfricaRail project.* With 1435mm gauge railways seemingly under construction in Libya to the north and Nigeria to the south, and an interconnection between the two that quite likely would pass through Nigeria, this would seem to indicate that Niger will acquire
standard gauge railways. This would scuttle in part at least proposals to create a 1000mm gauge network joining Niger with Togo, Benin and beyond. Considering the amount of new construction needed to link such countries, and the construction of a number of heavy duty iron ore railways which would almost certainly be 1435mm gauge, momentum is created to adopt the 1435mm gauge throughout.2006
* An Indian proposal has surfaced to link the railways in Benin and Togo with landlocked Niger and Burkino Faso. This network skirts around Ghana which is the wrong
narrow gauge of 1067mm.* On 6 March 2006 a scheme to extend the Nigerian rail system to neighbouring Niger, conceived 10 years ago, was revived and is currently receiving consideration by the transport ministries of both governments. The route identified runs from the present Nigerian railhead at
Kaura-Namoda viaSokoto toBirnin-Konni (about 250km altogether) on the border with Niger, which has no railway. A feasibility study on has been carried out by consultants Team (Nig) Ltd of Nigeria; the only obstacle now is the lack of funds. It is hoped that donor agencies will assist. Nigeria is already usinggauge convertible sleepers on theOnne line, and would presumably use them on the Niger Extension, so that initially 1067mm gauge would be used with easy conversion to 1435mm at a later date. Triple gauge sleepers that can also support 1000mm are also possible. [http://www.railwaysafrica.com/newsafrican/nigeriaranews.html]2005
* A [http://www.railserve.com/jump/jump.cgi?ID=17625 map] of link from Libya to Niger [http://www.railserve.com/jump/jump.cgi?ID=17625 AfricaRail]
* A [http://www.railserve.com/search.cgi?query=niger&stype=dir map] of a scheme to link Côte d'Ivoire, Burkina Faso, Niger, Benin and Togo, which are conveniently all 1000mm gauge.
Highway s"total:"10,100 km
"paved:"798 km
"unpaved:"9,302 km (1996 est.)See also
*
Trans-Sahara Highway Waterways
the Niger is navigable 300 km from
Niamey to Gaya on theBenin frontier from mid-December to MarchAirport s27 (1999 est.)
Airports - with paved
runway s"total:"9
"2,438 to 3,047 m:"2
"1,524 to 2,437 m:"6
"under 914 m:"1 (1999 est.)Airports - with unpaved runways
"total:"18
"1,524 to 2,437 m:"1
"914 to 1,523 m:"15
"under 914 m:"2 (1999 est.)ee also
*
Niger
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.