It is very surprising that there are very few photos from Mauritania on Railpictures.net yet, although diesel locomotives from the USA have been in service there for over 40 years. Let's start with a documentation of these operations. The SDL40-2 CC # 118 built by EMD in 1997 pulls the about 2 kilometer long loaded ore train of the SNIM (Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière) from Zouérate to Nouadhibou at line kilometer 407 between Choum and Ben Amira, together with the SD70ACS CC # 127 from 2012 and the SDL40-2 CC # 113 from 1993. The 650-kilometre-long standard-gauge, single-track railroad line through the Mauritanian desert was built between 1960 and 1963 to develop the ore deposits around Zouérate. Gross load of the train is about 20000 ton. In the rear of the train are newer cars, which can load about 97 ton each (120 ton total weight). The journey from Zouérate/Fderîck to the port of Nouadhibou ist about 15 to 18 hours with 50 km/h maximum velocity. Empty trains circulate with up to 60 km/h.
