Tall bridge overlooking the French colonial train tracks started in 1904 to connect with the distant mineral rich landlocked colonies. It never reached Niger, but a couple of years before independence, in 1956, it arrived at 1260 kilometers in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso.
Poor maintenance has contributed to road traffic, albeit more expensive and polluting than trains, mostly taking away the cargo that once was the lifeblood of this train, and passenger traffic ceased since the COVID epidemic scare of 2020/2021.
Despite Burkina protests, the Ivorian president has not reopened train service, citing safety concerns with the dilapidated tracks.
Much of the tracks are accompanied by sections of gravel trails that can be biked, albeit rough.