Home | Business News | Browse by Publication | I | International Railway Journal

New rails across the desert sands: West Africa's only heavy-haul railway operates through Mauritania's harsh desert environment. Daniel Boulanger, technical director of Corus, explains how the company has offered a unique solution to upgrade and expand the railway.

Publication: International Railway Journal
Publication Date: 01-JUN-07 		Format: Online
Delivery: Immediate Online Access
Full Article Title: New rails across the desert sands: West Africa's only heavy-haul railway operates through Mauritania's harsh desert environment. Daniel Boulanger, technical director of Corus, explains how the company has offered a unique solution to upgrade and expand the railway.(Heavy-haul freight)

Article Excerpt
MAURITANIA's National Industrial and Mining Company (SNIM), which extracts 12 million tonnes of iron-ore annually at Zouerate and transports it along a 700km heavy-haul line to the port of Nouadhibou, signed an agreement in 2002 with Sphere Investments, Australia, to develop lodestone deposits at Guelb El Aouj, 40km from Zouerate.

A new ore port capable of handling 180,000-tonne ships will double the loading rate, which currently stands at 5000 tonnes per hour. This will increase the export capacity to 25 million tonnes per year, sufficient to cope with the extra traffic generated by Guelb El Aouj mine.

The existing single-track standard-gauge line has nine passing loops. Trains are more than 2km long and weigh 22,000 tonnes. Each train has up to 210 25-tonne-axleload ore wagons, a number of service wagons, and is hauled by three 3300hp locomotives. Three loaded ore trains and three empty ones run simultaneously. The trip from the mine to the port takes 16 hours with...

View this article FREE - Now for a Limited Time, try Goliath Business News
Free for 3 Days!



More articles from International Railway Journal
Lotschberg tunnel set for June opening: the opening of the Lotschberg ..., June 01, 2007
Gotthard tunnelling two-thirds complete: just over two-thirds of the G..., June 01, 2007
TGV Est shows eastern promise: Eastern France, a relative railway back..., June 01, 2007
International Wheelset Congress takes shape: plans are now being final..., June 01, 2007
Rendezvous.(Calendar), June 01, 2007

Looking for additional articles?
Search our database of over 3 million articles.

Looking for more in-depth information on this industry?
Search our complete database of Industry & Market reports by text, subject, publication name or publication date.

About Goliath
Whether you're looking for sales prospects, competitive information, company analysis or best practices in managing your organization, Goliath can help you meet your business needs.

Our extensive business information databases empower business professionals with both the breadth and depth of credible, authoritative information they need to support their business goals. Whether it be strategic planning, sales prospecting, company research or defining management best practices - Goliath is your leading source for accurate information.