Senegal enters era of mass transport
APA-Dakar Senegal’s President Macky Sall launched, on Monday 27 December, the commercial operation of the Regional Express Train which is expected to carry not less than 115,000 passengers per day in its first phase. For President Sall, the Regional Express Train “carries the ambition of progress, well-being and modernity”. The Islamic Development Bank, the…
APA-Dakar (Senegal) Senegal’s President Macky Sall launched, on Monday 27 December, the commercial operation of the Regional Express Train (TER) which is expected to carry not less than 115,000 passengers per day in its first phase.
This is a great day for Senegal. Never since its independence, the country completed a railway project. For President Sall, the Regional Express Train (Ter) “carries the ambition of progress, well-being and modernity”.
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 press release 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 International Blaise Diagne 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 from the factories of the French group Alstom. During the work on this mega project, which began five years ago, “8,500 Senegalese worked in the construction phase of the route and 2,000 indirect employees for ancillary and non-traffic services.”
The State has contracted with Senegalese companies and several small and medium-sized local companies have been involved, notably in subcontracting and the supply of materials and their transport. 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). This contract covers “a period allowing for an effective transfer of skills”, the document said. The Senegalese state is a 34 percent shareholder in the capital of Seter and 100 percent in that of Senter.
Decongest Dakar
The capital concentrates, on 0.3 percent of the national territory, one fifth of the 17 million Senegalese and almost all of the country’s economic activities. In Dakar, according to a recent study reported by the Government Information Office (BIG), “traffic jams cost the city 99.7 billion CFA francs, or 152 million euros, every year.
According to President Sall, the Senegalese “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 Abdoulaye Wade’s successor, “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 the surrounding localities”.
