Transport in Guinea

Transport in Guinea is composed by a variety of systems that people in the country use to get around as well as to and from domestic and international destinations. The railway from Conakry to Kankan ceased operating in the mid-1980s. Most vehicles in Guinea are 20+ years old, and cabs are any four-door vehicle which the owner has designated as being for hire. Domestic air services are intermittent. Conakry International Airport is the largest airport in the country, with flights to other cities in Africa as well as to Europe.

Locals, nearly entirely without vehicles of their own, rely upon these taxis (which charge per seat) and small buses to take them around town and across the country. There is some river traffic on the Niger and Milo rivers. Horses and donkeys pull carts, primarily to transport construction materials.

Iron mining at Simandou (South) in the southeast beginning in 2007 and at Kalia in the east is likely to result in the construction of a new heavy-duty standard gauge railway and deep-water port. Iron mining at Simandou (North) will load to a new port near Buchanan, Liberia, in exchange for which rehabilitation of the Conakry to Kankan line will occur.

Railways
total: 1,086 km standard gauge: 279 km gauge metre gauge: 807 km gauge (includes 662 km in common carrier service from Kankan to Conakry)

The lines do not all connect.

Santou - Dapilo
This 125 km long Standard Gauge railway connects bauxite mines at Boffa with a new port at Boké, both places in the north of Guinea.

A Joint Venture has already launched the $US 3bn Boffa – Boké Project which a 125km line from the Dapilon River Terminal to new mining areas of Santou II and Houda. There are 2 tunnels.

This line opened in 28-06-2021.

See: Boffa-Boke Railway

Northern line
This line is gauge (standard gauge) and carries about 12000000 t per annum.


 * Port Kamsar - port
 * Boké
 * Crossing with proposed B    B    line.  Both 1435mm gauge.  By bridge or by level crossing.
 * Rail Sangarédi - bauxite mine

Central line
This line is gauge and head off in a northwestern direction.


 * Conakry - capital and port.
 * Dubréka
 * Fria - bauxite mine

Southern line
This line is gauge. Conversion to gauge has been proposed.


 * Conakry - capital and port.
 * Kindia - provincial capital.
 * Kolèntèn
 * Konkouré - several km north of railway
 * Mamou - provincial capital
 * Kégnégo
 * Dabola - junction and break of gauge
 * Bissikrima
 * Cisséla -
 * Kouroussa - bridge over Niger River
 * Kankan - terminus and provincial capital.

This line is.
 * Dabola - junction and break of gauge
 * Tougué - bauxite

South Western line
This line is and parallels the Southern line.


 * Conakry - capital and port. Rail Map (red dots) Rail Map (gray lines)
 * Kindia - bauxite mine.

Proposed South Trans-Guinean Railway
The heavy duty Transguinean Railways is about 650 km long and would be (standard gauge). It goes from iron ore mines in the south east and bauxite mines in the north to a new port a Matakong.


 * Matakong - Deep water port
 * Forécariah
 * Madina Woula - way station
 * Bambafouga - junction
 * Marela - way station
 * Faranah
 * Tiro
 * Kissidougou - way station
 * Macenta
 * Koule
 * Nzerekore
 * Lola
 * Simandou iron ore deposit near Diéké
 * Nimba - iron ore
 * Pontiola - bauxite
 * Tougué - branch terminus - bauxite

2019

 * Télimélé - Boffa

2008

 * July 2008 - wobbles over Simandou leases
 * four ex-Croatian locomotives refurbished and regauged in Russia

1994

 * Progress

Statistics

 * Length

Highways
total: 30,500 km paved: 5,033 km unpaved: 25,467 km (1996 est.)

The Trans–West African Coastal Highway crosses Guinea, connecting it to Bissau (Guinea-Bissau), and when construction in Sierra Leone and Liberia is complete, to a total of 13 other nations of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS).

Waterways
1,295 km navigable by shallow-draft native craft

Ports and harbors

 * Boké, Conakry, Kamsar

Merchant marine
none (1999 est.)

Airports
15 (1999 est.)

Airports - with paved runways
total: 5 over 3,047 m: 1 2,438 to 3,047 m: 1 1,524 to 2,437 m: 3 (1999 est.)

The airport code for the capital, Conakry, is CKY.

Airports - with unpaved runways
total: 10 1,524 to 2,437 m: 5 914 to 1,523 m: 4 under 914 m: 1 (1999 est.)