The first phase, costing \u00a0\u20ac130m, will last four years, Barry said, without giving a completion date for the overall project.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe work will start on September 15, there will also be orders for new material, new locomotives,\u201d said Eric Melet, chief executive for development at Bollore Transport and Logistics.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt will go ahead very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

The unelectrified single-line track traces its origins back to the late 19th century when France was looking for ways to link the colonized Sahel to its trading posts on the Atlantic.<\/p>\n

After many interruptions, the line began operation in 1954. After an economic crisis in the 1990s, management of the railways was handed to Sitarail.<\/p>\n

The line plays a key role for landlocked Burkina Faso in transporting cotton and manganese exports to the coast, and in importing oil, cement, and fertilizer.<\/p>\n

But it suffers from poor track and aging rolling stock, limiting train speed.<\/p>\n

Rehabilitation of the line had been announced in September 2015 but work did not advance.<\/p>\n

In September 2016, all traffic was stopped for two weeks after a bridge on the Ivorian side collapsed as a goods train was passing over, although without causing casualties.<\/p>\n

\u201cEconomic growth between Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast is dynamic and there are lots of goods which have to be transported by rail,\u201d Melet said.<\/p>\n

By rehabilitating the northern branch of the line to the mining town of Kaya, 100 kilometres north of Ouagadougou, \u201ca million tons of minerals could be transported over the next four years,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Bollore has a 67 percent stake in Sitarail, Burkina Faso and Ivory Coast each have 15 percent, and the remaining three percent is owned by the workforce.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n