Classic route
Mauritania Iron Ore Train
Nouadhibou → Zouérat · Mauritania
The world’s longest trains, up to 2.5 km of ore hoppers across the open Sahara, with a single battered passenger coach swaying at the back.
How this line was checked
- Line drawn from OpenStreetMap relation 8530289 — the same nodes OpenStreetMap holds for this railway, thinned to within under 25 m of them
- Checked against OpenStreetMap: the whole line lies on real track, a median 2 m from it
- The operator publishes this line's timetable: SNIM — a place to look it up, not a check of our drawing
- Wikipedia has an article for this line
- See for yourself: open this line on the map with OpenStreetMap's own railway drawn underneath it
Questions and answers
How long is the Mauritania Iron Ore Train?
The Mauritania Iron Ore Train runs 704 km from Nouadhibou to Zouérat.
How long does the Mauritania Iron Ore Train take?
The fastest scheduled journey is ≈ 18 h for the 704 km. That is an average of 39 km/h end to end. The line's top service speed is 60 km/h.
Who runs the Mauritania Iron Ore Train?
SNIM.
How old is the Mauritania Iron Ore Train?
The line has been in service since 1963. That is the year the atlas dates it from: for a modern brand running over an older railway, it is the railway's date, not the brand's.
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