The Ter? We didn’t have to wait ten years (By Elhadj Ibrahima THIAM) October 6, 2026
“Le Ter, in ten years, you will tell me some news.” This was the title of a column that we devoted, in these same pages, to the controversies which accompanied the arrival of the Regional Express Train. It was the beginning of 2019. The cost, the layout, the relevance, the usefulness: everything had been scrutinized. And sometimes with a lot of passion. We are not yet ten years old. It took much less time for the news to arrive. Today they are obvious to everyone. Even from some yesterday’s detractors.
Who can doubt, today, that Ter is now part of the daily lives of thousands of Senegalese? You only need to go to the stations during rush hours to be convinced of this. Hundreds of travelers flock there every day. For many, the Ter represents a saving of time, more comfort and a certain regularity in travel.
These users do not need long speeches to measure what the train has changed in their daily lives. This is perhaps where the best response to yesterday’s controversies lies: in usage.
And last week, the Ter took a new step. It no longer stops at Diamniadio. It now continues its journey to Blaise-Diagne International Airport in Diass (Aibd). While waiting for its extension towards Thiès, and perhaps beyond.
The connection may seem natural. In many countries, trains serve airports directly and allow travelers to reach terminals without depending on traffic hazards. For Senegal, it marks, above all, a new stop in the history of a project which, seven years after its launch, has ended up becoming a habit.
The Ter is unfortunately not the only major transport project to have undergone such a journey. The Bus Rapid Transit (Brt), the Dakar-Diamniadio toll highway and the Ila Touba highway have also attracted their share of criticism. Each time, the same question came up: did we really need this infrastructure? Was it appropriate to spend so much money on it?
This does not mean that these projects are free from criticism or that all the questions raised at their launch were unfounded. But time sometimes allows us to look at an infrastructure differently than just the noise of its inauguration. Dakar is growing. Its population is increasing, as is its vehicle fleet, and travel is becoming more numerous and more complex every year. The capital concentrates a significant part of the country’s population and economic activity on a small territory. A large part of the automobile fleet also circulates there. Under these conditions, building more and more roads alone cannot constitute a sustainable response. The challenge is also to diversify modes of transport and develop collective solutions capable of absorbing a growing share of travel. The Ter and the Brt must therefore be looked at in this perspective. They are not just responses to today’s difficulties. They also participate in preparing the city of tomorrow. But one thing is certain: the Ter is no longer just a project that we talk about. It has become an infrastructure that we use. If it takes a few more years to fully measure its impact on mobility and the organization of the territory, its extension to the airport has the merit of reminding us that certain infrastructures take on their full meaning over time, as needs evolve and uses develop. Basically, we didn’t have to wait ten years to get news from the Ter.
