Train traffic between Burkina Faso, Côte d’Ivoire on hold

The train traffic ensuring the transportation of hundreds of thousands of people and tons of goods between Cote d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso has been temporarily suspended due to a defect in the railway on the Ivorian side caused by heavy rainfalls over the last week-end.
Sitarail, the company operating the 1,260km railway line between the two countries, in a statement to media, indicated Tuesday July 25 that a water retaining dyke located 200 meters from the railway line broke, releasing a large quantity of water which washed away portions of the railway embankment in its path.
The incident was immediately detected thanks to the company’s monitoring and alert system and rail traffic was “temporarily suspended”, the statement added.
The traffic is used by at least 200.000 people every year between the two countries. It also enables the transportation of 800.000 tons of goods per annum.
Sitarail, a subsidiary of French shipping and logistics Bolloré Group, in 2017 announced plan to inject 600 million euros to improve and modernize the infrastructure.
The enhancement, the company indicated, will spur an increase in goods and number of travelers to respectively 5 million tons and 800.000 per year.