A network of good trains could unite the region, make travel much more safe and efficient, and be a giant magnet for tourism.

So I’m talking with my friend, Walt, about travel when the subject of Africa comes up:

ME: I’d like to do Ghana, Senegal, the Gambia, Nigeria maybe.

WALT: Hard to travel between West African countries — lousy or no air service. The local airlines are dreadful.

It shouldn’t be like this.

The 13 West African nations that comprise the cooperative body known as ECOWAS cover an area less than half the size of continental Europe. It should be a snap for a traveler or a businessman to travel between countries in that part of the Mother Continent.

The reality is exactly the opposite. When you travel to West Africa, you pretty much need to limit yourself to a single destination. Why? Because the regional airlines in this part of the world are infamous for being unreliable and not entirely safe.

A 5,500-MILE DETOUR?
African travel vets will tell you they routinely have to fly from, say, Dakar to Abidjan — by way of Paris. Which means that, to cover the 1,100 miles between Dakar and Abidjan, you first need 5.5 hours to fly the 2,500 miles from Dakar to Paris, then another 6.5 hours for the 3,000-mile flight from Paris to Abidjan.

This is insane. What vacation traveler do you know who’d be willing to subject themselves to this?

If I’m that traveler, I’m a lot more likely to visit a single West African destination, then spend the rest of my time in Paris and forget the rest of West Africa. This is one of the situations holding back the entire region.

Actually, I’m just as likely to just forget West Africa altogether and spend my vacation in Europe, where it’s so much easier to move around by train.

And that’s when it hit me: Why couldn’t West Africa link their nations with a good high-speed rail network?

A MOVABLE CHALLENGE
Physically, the challenges should not be insurmountable. Look at a map of West Africa. The distances aren’t enormous. From Dakar in the north to Lagos in the south, a single rail line could easily and efficiently link 11 different West African cities and capitals.

Politically, the vehicle to push this forward already exists: ECOWAS — the Economic Community of West African States. And wouldn’t you know it? ECOWAS is already talking about creating an integrated rail network linking West African cities and ports, as are others in the region.

Most such projects, however, are focused on moving freight to and from West African ports. The movement of people needs to be a priority, as well.

Expertise to build such a system? No problem there at all. Most nations in this part of Africa already have strong business ties with both Western Europe and China, the world’s two reigning experts on high-speed rail.

The Chinese in particular are pushing hard to become the world’s leading exporter of high-speed rail. They’re already talking about linking 17 countries across the Euro-Asian landmass via HSR. Building a regional system for West Africa shouldn’t present a challenge greater than that. What’s more, Beijing is so flush with cash these days that financing its construction should be easy.

MEDIUM FAST
Indeed, the Chinese are already talking to South Africa about building a true high-speed rail line for that country.

It might not even need to be a truly high-speed train, which is currently defined as a passenger train capable of 186 miles per hour or better. Given the relatively short distances between most major West African cities, a reliable, comfortable passenger train doing 90-150 mph should do just fine.

And I think Paris could survive the loss in air traffic.

Is this a gigantic dream, full of difficulties, challenges, obstacles in the “real world?” Absolutely. But no more so than the dreams of a united, cooperative Europe. And it’s one that, if pursued and fulfilled, could lift up all of West Africa.

Small dreams are a waste of sleep.

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