Disused railroad material is also sometimes reused in Mauritania. Here at Ben Amira station, the building on the right is made from a former MIFERMA freight train carriage. The building on the lef... (more)

The mauritanian iron ore railway passes Africa's largest monolith Ben Amira, which is 540 meter a.s.l. or rises about 370 meter above the desert. The about 2 kilometer long loaded iron ore train M... (more)

Both empty and loaded ore trains on the 652-kilometer route in Mauritania usually also carry other wagons, usually at the front or rear of the train. Here we see the loaded delayed train “M6” ... (more)

On this day, Mauritania's “Train du Désert” (Desert train) set off for the first time with a foreign tour group (Servrail from Switzerland) from Ben Amira (PK 393) westwards to the port of No... (more)

In Mauritania, disused railroad equipment, be it vehicles or superstructure material, is usually not scrapped but left standing somewhere. Near Boulenouar, at kilometer 96 of the 652-kilometer-lon... (more)

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 ... (more)

The “Train du Désert” with the tour group from Switzerland arrived in Ben Amira from Zouérate while it was still dark. Meanwhile, it is slowly getting light and the largest monolith in Afric... (more)

When the “train du Désert” arrived at Ben Amira at 05.14 AM after the night journey from Zouérate, the empty ore train V3 from Nouadhibou to Zouérate was waiting there for the crossing and ... (more)

A train around two kilometers long takes a few minutes to pass by.

At the end of the approximately 2 kilometer long loaded iron ore train M4 from Zouérate/F'derîk to the port of Nouadhibou, pulled by SDL40-2 CC # 109, 103 and 117 in multiple control, are a gree... (more)

The SDL40-2 CC # 118 built by EMD in 1997 pulls the about 2 kilometer long loaded ore train M6 of the SNIM (Société Nationale Industrielle et Minière) from Zouérate to the port of Nouadhibou a... (more)

The SDL40-2 CC # 118 was delivered to the SNIM in Mauritania in the last order in 1997 (# 117 to # 121). In total there were 21 SDL40-2 built between 1981 and 1997, all are in operation to this da... (more)

When the approximately 650 kilometer long railway line from the port of Nouadhibou to the ore mine near Zouérate was built in Mauritania between 1960 and 1963, MIFERMA (Société anonyme des Mine... (more)

When the approximately 650 kilometer long railway line from the port of Nouadhibou to the ore mine near Zouérate was built in Mauritania between 1960 and 1963, MIFERMA (Société anonyme des Mine... (more)

After several days of traveling through Mauritania, the group from Switzerland met the railroad for the first time at noon that day in Choum. A few minutes later, the empty ore train V5 from Nouad... (more)