Editing Transport in Mali (section)

== Railways ==
{{further|Rail transport in Mali|Dakar-Niger Railway}}

Mali has one railroad (the [[Dakar-Niger Railway]]), with 729 kilometers in Mali, which runs from the port of [[Koulikoro]] via [[Bamako]] to the border with [[Senegal]] and continues on to [[Dakar]]. The Bamako-Dakar line, which has been described as dilapidated, was owned by a joint company established by Mali and Senegal in 1995, with the eventual goal of [[privatization]]. In 2003 the two countries sold a 25-year concession to run the rail line to a Canadian company, which has pledged to upgrade equipment and infrastructure.

The Malian portion of the railroad carried an estimated 536,000 tons of freight and 778,000 passengers in 1999. The track is in poor condition, and the line is closed frequently during the rainy season. The line is potentially significant because it links landlocked Mali to the port of Dakar. It is increasingly of interest for Malian exports in the face of the disruption of access to [[Abidjan]], [[Ivory Coast|Côte d'Ivoire]], as a result of civil conflict in that country beginning in late 2002. In the early 2000s, there also were plans to construct a new rail line between Bamako and [[Kouroussa]] and [[Kankan]] in [[Guinea]].<ref name=cp/>

As of 2013, passenger services in Mali were being offered three days between Bamako and [[Kayes]] via [[Kati, Mali|Kati]] and [[Diamou]].<ref>Mali, Seat 61, http://www.seat61.com/Senegal.htm#.U2JXgMfEc7A</ref>