There's something interesting about this new project to build a trans Africa rail network with funding from the middle east and china. I was of course first proposed by the horribly racist Cecil Rhodes in his colonial ambitions as the Cape to Cairo railway a 150 years ago. I like the narrative of former colonies planning and building their own infrastructure.
On part I thought was interesting is the Dakar - Port Sudan railway is being funded as a way to provide more affordable way to do the hajj pilgrimage. Making affordable a recreation of what was the most expensive road trip in the history of humanity, when the richest man in history, Mansa Musa. Although it seems like Mansa took a route along the north coast of Africa, not straight across southern Sahara desert as the new railway plans to go.
Obviously the real impact will be economic as it'll mean the land locked countries of the south Sahara will get access to fast, cheap, and reliable transportation, especially for freight. The lack of reliable road and rail infrastructure is a lot of what has held Africa's development back. I've watched videos of travellers who go via car or motorcycle down the west coast of Africa or try and drive across the Congo to go from west to east Africa, and it's bad. Many countries are barely connected at all. The infrastructure that exists was mostly built by European colonial powers to extract natural resources without any concern for regional connections or economic development.
Cape to Cairo Railway - Wikipedia
