On this day, Mauritania's “Train du Désert” set off for the first time with a foreign tour group (Servrail from Switzerland) from Ben Amira (PK 393) westwards to the port of Nouadhibou, running the section as far as Boulenouar (PK 96). The SNIM's BB # 207, a GPL-15T built by EMD/La Grange in 2004, pulls the double-decker former diesel railcar A2n # 001, built in 1982 by consortium Cafici (OCB Casaralta, FIAT Ferroviaria Savigliano and CIMT Lorraine) and the former second-class coach of the Czech railroad CD, which has been converted into a couchette coach, as well as two empty ore wagons serving as brake vans. The two passenger cars no longer have a brake system and have been converted to the Russian SA-3 center buffer coupling. On the left is Ben Amira mountain, second largest monolith worldwide (highest in Africa), about 540 meter a.s.l. or about 370 above the desert. The “Train du Désert” otherwise runs on order for groups between Ben Amira, Choum and Zouérate. The SNIM has 16 of this GPL-15T locomotives (BB # 201 to # 216) built between 2004 and 2008.
