Rail transport in Burkina Faso

There are 622 kilometres of railway in Burkina Faso, which run from Kaya to the border with Côte d'Ivoire and is part of the Abidjan-Ouagadougou railway. As of June 2024, 'Sitarail' does not operate a passenger train to Abidjan.

Burkina Faso is landlocked, but the railway to Abidjan provides rail access to a port. Links to railways in Ghana and the port of Takoradi have been repeatedly proposed.

Stations
The following towns of Burkina Faso are served by the country's railways:
 * 🇨🇮 - 🇧🇫 - border
 * 🇧🇫 Niangoloko
 * Banfora
 * Peni
 * Bobo-Dioulasso
 * Sala
 * Koudougou
 * Bingo
 * Ouagadougou (national capital)
 * Ziniaré (service suspended)
 * Kaya terminus

Construction resuming

 * (for 3MTpa manganese - 2014)?
 * Kaya (terminus)
 * Dori (approx. 100 km of the extension from Kaya to Dori; visible on Google Earth dated 15/2/07)
 * Markoye
 * Tambao (manganese), near Niger/Mali borders

Proposed

 * ( gauge)
 * 🇬🇭 Tamale
 * 🇬🇭 Navrongo
 * 🇬🇭 Bolgatanga
 * 🇬🇭 Paga
 * 🇬🇭 🇧🇫 Border (Ghana-Burkina Faso)
 * 🇧🇫 Dakola
 * 🇧🇫 Pô
 * 🇧🇫 Bagré
 * 🇧🇫 Zabre
 * 🇧🇫 Tenkodogo
 * 🇧🇫 Manga
 * 🇧🇫 Ouagadougou - national capital - junction - break of gauge

2011
On 31 November 2011, an agreement was signed to build a new international railway connecting Ivory Coast, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Benin. See AfricaRail.

2014
Pan African Minerals to develop the Tambao manganese project at a cost of up to $1 billion. The manganese mine is in the north of Burkina Faso, near the border with Niger and Mali, containing perhaps 100 million tonnes of the metal (used in steel production). "The Tamboa project is an integrated project with a mining component and an infrastructure component, notably through the roads, railway and the port", said Romanian billionaire Frank Timis. "The project will happen in the next three years and will require investment of nearly $1 billion".

2018
Ghana and Ivory Coast sign a deal to develop a through rail link.

Ghana and Burkina Faso sign deal for link Link

Maps

 * UN Map (no longer shows railway lines). (Dead link, 12.09.23)
 * UNHCR Map (Dead link, 12.09.23)