Train from Nouadhibou to Choum : details
Replies: 25 - Last Post: Feb 8, 2012 9:23 AM Last Post By: levelo
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Train from Nouadhibou to Choum : details
Hi all,I am told this train is weekly only. Is that true, if yes when does it leave ?
Furthermore, does it really worth to take this special train, or it is just a train... ? What about the safety there and around recently ?
I will cross Mauritania in 2 weeks and start looking where to go.
Thanks
François
3
It is the longest and heaviest Ore train in the world.You can really rough it and hitch a lift in one of the wagons or book a seat. Both are dusty!
It is an institution to ride this train if in Mauritania I think.
It is a genuine and different way into the interior from Noudhibou.
Cheers.
4
Things that are special about this train:1. The train is very, very long
2. It's free
3. It's the only direct way to travel between Nouadhibou and Choum: there's no road
4. You can ride in any iron-ore wagon
If you want the really special experience, you have to take this train from Choum to Nouadhibou, when the wagons are full of iron ore... It's not something you're likely to experience anywhere else, and it's certainly not something you'll forget.
5
There are three trains per day from Nouadhibou to Chom (and beyond), but only one is allowed to carry passengers. When I asked about departure times yesterday I was told it will be either 2pm or 3 or maybe 4 pm. Let's see what happens today.7
Does anyone know if there are manned stations between Nouadhibou and Choum? Or is it just desert? Is there some kind of track along the railway one could drive or ride on?9
Rather odd! It is such a long stretch... There has to be some kind of maintenance to do on the tracks from time to time.I once traveled along a similar railway in the desert in Sudan. They had stations every 30 or 40 kms. I was biking and it was my only chance of finding water.
Edited by: levelo
12
There are at least a couple of towns along the way between Nouadhibou and Choum where the train stops, or at least where my train stopped. I have no idea how frequent manned stations are though - there are certainly quite long stretches of nothing but desert.
