Railways in

Liberia Liberia (), officially the Republic of Liberia, is a country on the West African coast. It is bordered by Sierra Leone to Liberia–Sierra Leone border, its northwest, Guinea to its north, Ivory Coast to its east, and the Atlantic Ocean ...

comprised two lines from the port of

Monrovia Monrovia () is the capital city of the West African country of Liberia. Founded in 1822, it is located on Cape Mesurado on the Atlantic coast and as of the 2008 census had 1,010,970 residents, home to 29% of Liberia’s total population. As the ...

in the northeast, and one line from the port of Buchanan in the centre. The principal traffic is, or was, iron ore. In 2010, only the Bong mine railway was operational but the Lamco Railway was at least partially rebuilt by

Arcelor Mittal ArcelorMittal S.A. is a Luxembourgian multinational steel manufacturing corporation headquartered in Luxembourg City. It was formed in 2006 from the takeover and merger of Arcelor by Indian-owned Mittal Steel. ArcelorMittal is the second larg ...

and put back into service in 2011.

History

Infrastructure

Mano River Railway (1N)

The gauge Mano River railway primarily carried freight, but had very limited passenger service between

, Mano River terminal, Brewerville, Klay, Tubmanburg, and Mano River Mine. These are now disused, due to exhaustion of the Iron Ore deposits on the line.

Bong mine railway (2C)

The Bong Mine railway was damaged during the civil war, and reopened in 2009. It had intermittent service to the following places: * Monrovia Port * Louisiana * Sheshe * Harrisburg * Careysburg * Kolata * Motobli * Yapagua * Bong Mine This railway is .

Lamco Railway (3S)

The Lamco railway was originally built to take

iron ore Iron ores are rocks and minerals from which metallic iron can be economically extracted. The ores are usually rich in iron oxides and vary in color from dark grey, bright yellow, or deep purple to rusty red. The iron is usually found in the fo ...

from

mount Nimba - Yekepa Train station Mount is often used as part of the name of specific mountains, e.g. Mount Everest. Mount or Mounts may also refer to: Places * Mount, Cornwall, a village in Warleggan parish, England * Mount, Perranzabuloe, a hamlet in Perranzabuloe parish, C ...

and Tokadeh to the port of Buchanan, for export. It fell into disuse and was damaged during the civil war, but has recently been rebuilt by

and was put back into service in 2011. This railway is/was . In 2022 a short extension across the border into Guinea to serve iron ore deposits there was proposed.

Simandou-Didia

In 2010,

BSG Resources Beny Steinmetz ( he, בני שטיינמץ; born 2 April 1956) is an Israeli businessman and entrepreneur, with a focus in the mining and energy sectors, while being also active in the real estate and diamond-mining industries. Beny Steinmetz is ...

planned to build a cross-border line to export iron ore from mines near

Simandou Simandou is a range of hills located in the Nzérékoré and Kankan regions of southeastern Guinea, in the country's mountainous, forested ''Guinée Forestière'' region. At the southern end of the range the site of a large iron ore deposit i ...

North (in

Guinea Guinea ( ),, fuf, 𞤘𞤭𞤲𞤫, italic=no, Gine, wo, Gine, nqo, ߖߌ߬ߣߍ߫, bm, Gine officially the Republic of Guinea (french: République de Guinée), is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the we ...

) via the Liberian port of Didia. 51% of BSGR is now owned by

Vale A vale is a type of valley. Vale may also refer to: Places Georgia * Vale, Georgia, a town in the Samtskhe-Javakheti region Norway * Våle, a historic municipality Portugal * Vale (Santa Maria da Feira), a former civil parish in the municipali ...

. This line parallels the Lamco Railway for a considerable distance.

Accidents

In January 2006, there was an accident on the Bong Mines railway; a train travelling from the mine to Monrovia collided with a makeshift wooden trolley used by locals (known as a "Make-away"). Two were killed.

Maps

UN Map

References

{{Africa in topic, Rail transport in