Trains across Africa
NaN routes and 34 operators across 23 countries Fares and journey times below come from the same engine that answers the search box.
12,332 Trains routes run across Africa, reaching 535 places in 23 countries through 34 operators On the 16 busiest of them, priced on 8 October 2026, the cheapest fare is €11.88 and the fastest journey is 1h 14m door to door. A median route runs 161 km.
Trains in Africa, in numbers
What we actually sell, counted rather than claimed.
- 12,332Routes we sell
- 3,083Corridors
- 535Places served
- 23Countries
- 34Operators
- 11,952Domestic routes
- 380Cross border routes
- 0Routes out of the region
- 161 kmMedian route
- 1,113 kmLongest route
How the modes compare across Africa
Every mode measured on the same 16 corridors in Africa, priced on 8 October 2026 for one passenger.
The corridors that matter in Africa
Ranked by how much service runs, then priced. The country and city pages carry the rest.
| Route | From | Fastest | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pretoria to Johannesburg train | €11.88 | 1h 14m | 53 km |
| Germiston to Pretoria train | €11.88 | 1h 16m | 54 km |
| Settat to Casablanca train | €11.89 | 1h 21m | 65 km |
| Berrechid to Temara train | €16.84 | 1h 35m | 97 km |
| Kenitra to Casablanca train | €20.69 | 1h 53m | 121 km |
| Khouribga to Rabat train | €21.24 | 1h 52m | 126 km |
| Settat to Salé Al Jadida train | €22.89 | 1h 54m | 137 km |
| Dar Bouazza to Kenitra train | €23.44 | 1h 56m | 141 km |
| Meknes to Rabat train | €25.09 | 1h 44m | 119 km |
| Yaoundé to Douala train | €28.39 | 2h 11m | 202 km |
| Sétif to Algiers train | €36.64 | 2h 21m | 217 km |
| Enugu to Abuja train | €39.39 | 2h 55m | 291 km |
| Oujda to Fes train | €46.54 | 3h 9m | 293 km |
| Arusha to Zanzibar train | €55.89 | 3h 37m | 418 km |
| Bulawayo to Harare train | €58.64 | 3h 26m | 366 km |
| Port Elizabeth to Johannesburg train | €120.24 | 6h 46m | 894 km |
Countries in Africa
Every country in Africa we sell in, most routes first.
| Country | Routes | Places | Operators |
|---|---|---|---|
| Algeria | 1,984 | 81 | 3 |
| South Africa | 1,868 | 70 | 5 |
| Morocco | 1,672 | 69 | 4 |
| Tunisia | 1,036 | 43 | 1 |
| Congo - Kinshasa | 976 | 42 | 3 |
| Nigeria | 924 | 43 | 1 |
| Tanzania | 772 | 22 | 1 |
| Kenya | 612 | 42 | 1 |
| Angola | 488 | 20 | 2 |
| Zambia | 444 | 16 | 1 |
| Ethiopia | 436 | 16 | 1 |
| Côte d’Ivoire | 400 | 16 | 1 |
| Benin | 268 | 14 | 1 |
| Burkina Faso | 260 | 16 | 1 |
| Zimbabwe | 216 | 18 | 1 |
| Djibouti | 112 | 16 | 1 |
| Botswana | 92 | 9 | 2 |
| Cameroon | 56 | 8 | 1 |
| Congo - Brazzaville | 36 | 5 | 1 |
| Mozambique | 36 | 5 | 2 |
| Madagascar | 12 | 5 | 2 |
| Namibia | 8 | 3 | 1 |
| Mauritania | 4 | 2 | 1 |
When to book in Africa
The same search run at seven lead times across 3 corridors in Africa.
- €48.743 days
- €39.397 days
- €25.6421 days
- €19.5945 days
- €28.9484 days
- Cheapest lead time
- Across the routes we sampled the typical fare is lowest around 45 days ahead, at €19.59.
- How much it moves
- The gap between the cheapest and dearest lead time is 60 percent. At the dearest point the typical fare is €48.74, 3 days out.
How far people travel to get here
Every origin we sell by Trains, grouped by how far it is in a straight line.
| Distance | Routes | Share | Nearest of them |
|---|---|---|---|
| Under 200 km | 7,236 | 59% | Alberton, 40 km |
| 200 to 600 km | 4,168 | 34% | Abengourou, 200 km |
| 600 to 1,500 km | 928 | 8% | Banfora, 600 km |
Train operators
The carriers with the largest networks inside Africa.
Train destinations
Other ways to travel across Africa
Common questions about Trains across Africa
How many Trains routes does Orlero sell across Africa?
12,332 of them, across 23 countries reaching 535 places through 34 operators
How much does travelling by Trains cost in Africa?
On the 16 busiest Trains corridors in Africa, priced on 8 October 2026, the lowest fare is €11.88 and the median is €24.27.
Is Trains the fastest way across Africa?
On the corridors we priced, train takes a median of 1h 55m door to door, against 2h 53m by Coach. Both figures include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the other end.
Which countries in Africa have Trains routes we sell?
Algeria, South Africa, Morocco, Tunisia, Congo - Kinshasa, Nigeria, Tanzania, Kenya, Angola, Zambia, Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Benin, Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Djibouti, Botswana, Cameroon, Congo - Brazzaville, Mozambique, Madagascar, Namibia, Mauritania.
Who runs the Trains services in Africa?
الشركة الوطنية للنقل بالسكك الحديدية, Shosholoza Meyl, Oncf, الشركة الوطنية للسكك الحديدية التونسية, Nigerian Railway Corporation, المكتب الوطني للسكك الحديدية, among 34 carriers we sell across Africa.
When should I book travel across Africa?
Fares on the corridors we sampled bottom out about 45 days before departure. Booking then rather than 3 days ahead was 60 percent cheaper on this sample.
How far apart are the places we sell in Africa?
The median route runs 161 km in a straight line and the shortest is 40 km. The longest we sell is 1,113 km, from Ilebo to Lubumbashi.
Where these numbers come from
Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.
Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.
Defined in full at Door to door, Fares
- Regions
- A region is a set of countries, and a route counts for it when either end is inside it. Countries are grouped from their ISO code alone, so the map grows with the data and nothing here is drawn by hand.
- The sample
- Fares, journey times and carbon are measured on the 16 highest ranked corridors in this region, spread across it rather than taken from the top, so the figures describe the region and not its busiest country.