About 10 kilometers (7 miles) east of the village of Ben Amira there is a small rocky hill from where the long trains of the Mauritanian ore railway line can be observed well, while otherwise the desert is mostly quite flat. At midday, the loaded ore train “M6” (mineralier # 6), probably about 1,6 kilometers long, with aprox. 140 cars, approaches from the east, from Choum, on its way from F'derîk to the port in Nouadhibou. It is pulled by the locomotives SDL40-2 CC # 118, SD70ACS CC # 127 and SDL40-2 CC # 113. Above the train hangs a cloud of diesel exhaust fumes, finest desert sand and pulverized iron ore. Loaded trains travel at a maximum speed of 50 km/h (about 30 mph), in reality probably a little less. As usual, other freight wagons are also carried at the end of the train, e.g. with containers or tank wagons for water or diesel/gas. The maximum axle load of the line is currently 26 tons, but an upgrade to 30 tons is in the works. There is currently a USD 467 million expansion program to double transport capacity by 2030. The aim is to procure 36 new locomotives and over 1700 wagons.
