Urban rail transit has emerged as a growing form of transit due to rapid urbanization that has occurred in recent decades across the continent of Africa. Some of these transit systems are older and more developed, such as the metro in Cairo which opened in 1987. Others such as the light-rail system in Addis Ababa are much more recent, which opened in 2015. A variety of technologies are being used ranging from light-rail, bus rapid-transit, and commuter-rail etc. Africa for several decades saw minimal investment in rail infrastructure, but in recent years due to urban population growth and improved financing options, investment in rail networks has increased.

Background African heavy-rail is an artifact of the colonial period, where colonizing nations built out these networks to further the conquest of Africa. The colonial powers also used these networks to transport resources they extracted from operations they developed. These rail networks criss-crossed major areas of Africa, but with the independence period these networks became splintered due to new borders across the continent. These networks declined over the next few decades, due to lower demand and lower levels of investment. Like many other aspects of African governments, these became overstaffed.

In recent decades, potential economic growth has been untapped with the growth of extractive industries such as mining and oil drilling. Many of these mines are located in the several land-locked nations in the African interior. Aware of the environmental toll that road-transport requires, nations and foreign actors are realizing the potential of rail transit in Africa. Besides economic incentives, urbanization has been fueling the growth of mega cities across the globe. Lagos, Nairobi, Cairo, Kinshasa, Luanda, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, and Abidjan, etc., either are all mega cities across Africa that are either already at 10 million people, or soon on track to surpass that number. In recent years there has been a growth in both urban rail systems, and more traditional heavy rail.

Northern Africa

Egypt

Egypt is home to the Cairo Metro, the oldest rail transit system on the African continent, which opened in 1987. The National Authority for Tunnels was established in 1983, which oversees the Cairo Metro. It is composed of three lines, the first line opening in 1987. The most recent line, the 3rd line was completed in 2024. The construction of this 3rd line was possible with French and European Union funding, but there are currently plans for a 4th, 5th, and 6th line. The current rail network handles about 4 million people daily, and runs on almost 110 km of track. The Cairo Metro currently uses rolling stock from Hyundai Rotem, in which the Metro has placed orders in 2012, 2017, and 2019. It runs on a standard gauge track.

Cairo also has an LRT system, which opened in 2022, that serves the eastern suburbs of the city and the New Administrative Capital before ending at the interchange between the LRT and the high speed rail.

Algeria

Algeria has a metro system in Algiers, originally put forward in 1980. But it was postponed for a couple decades before finally opening in 2011. It is 18.8 km long, and runs on fourteen trains. Algeria has significant oil deposits which cause very low oil prices in the country, leading to high levels of car usage. Algiers is a large city in North Africa, and is not designed for the number of cars being put on its streets; the gridlock has spurred rapid metro expansion on a series of projects. Several projects are underway and slated to open in the early part of the 2020 decade.

Tunisia

The capital of Tunisia, Tunis is home to a developing light-rail system. It existed in the past also, but was removed with the advent of "car culture." The light-rail system returned in 1985. It is composed of five lines, and has undergone improvements in recent years. Thanks to a combination of foreign funding from the AFD, EIB, French Government, the Tunisian government has been able to undertake these improvements and extensions. Although Tunis is not a particularly large city, its bus system had become overloaded, and there was extensive traffic in the city center.

Morocco

Casablanca is more complex than Algiers or Tunis, in order to connect the suburban areas to the downtown of Casablanca, a system of four tramway lines with over 100 km of tracks, and 124 trains as well as two lines of BRT(bus rapid transit) is achieved, the city has future projects of monorail system but no progress so far.

West Africa

Nigeria

Abuja

Abuja Rail Mass Transit, commonly known as Abuja Light Rail, is a regional rail transport system in the Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria. It is the first rapid transit system in the country and in West Africa and the second such system in sub-saharan Africa (after Addis Ababa Light Rail). The first phase of the project connects the city center to Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, stopping at the Abuja-Kaduna Railway station in Idu. The Abuja Metro Line was launched on 12 July 2018 and opened for passengers the following week.

Lagos

Nigeria's economic center, Lagos is one of the fastest growing metro areas across the globe. Unlike other metro areas Lagos until very recently did not have a form of mass transit. China in its ambitious Belt and Road initiative over the last decade, has been especially prominent in Nigeria. China's vehicle for this investment is through loans from the Export-Import Bank and China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC). Lagos was projected to hit a population of 25 million making it one of the largest metro areas on Earth. In 2008 Bus-Rapid transit was launched, but this had limited capacity. The first line, The Lagos Blue Line, officially began operation on September 4,2023 and the next line, The Lagos Red Line is 95% complete. A much more ambitious project was launched in 2009 for "Lite-Rail", Nigeria is currently focused on developing two lines, estimated to carry 500,000 passengers daily. Light-Rail in Lagos is complicated with the presence of significant water due to the presence of a lagoon and the Atlantic Coast, but construction is being coordinated for seamless transition between different modes of transportation.

Senegal

Dakar, the economic centre of the country, has been facing several mobility problems for the past years. This situation led to the opening in 2019 of a new infrastructure to relieve congestion in the suburbs, but also to join the capital to the new Blaise Diagne International Airport by the end of 2023.

The work has started in 2016 and the line also passes by another relatively recent important centre of the country, Diamniadio. This project is part of the Plan Senegal Emergent put in place by the president Macky Sall, elected in 2012.

By 2024, work for extensions towards Thiès and Mbour is planned to start.

Côte d'Ivoire

The largest city and economic center Abidjan is set to welcome one of the first metro systems in West Africa, signing a deal in 2019 with a French company. Although construction will not start till 2020. There has been some delays with the project as it was initially announced in 2015, but now service is expected to begin in 2022. France has actually offered to finance the whole project at a cost of 1.4 billion Euros. Due to the physical nature of Abidjan which has many islands and peninsulas, the metro project requires significant construction of infrastructure. In total in order for this project to be completed it "will require the construction of 24 bridges, 1 viaduct over the lagoon, 34 pedestrian footbridges and 8 underpasses." It is set to be one line initially with 18 stations and a capacity of 500,000 riders per day. Similar to other French-backed projects Alstom was awarded the contract for the physical train-sets.

Central Africa

Cameroon The largest city in Cameroon, Douala is home to roughly 2.8 million people; like many other African cities it is undergoing rapid rates of growth and a horrible degree of traffic congestion. Some relief is coming to the residents of Douala, as the Biya government and a Belgian and Turkish company have agreed to build a tramway. The pilot project is set to open in 2021, but is planned to be part of a larger five line tram network. In order to speed the construction of the other eventual lines, the project will use the same track 1,000 mm gauge as conventional rail. This will create a mixed used network of train and tram to build on the existing rail infrastructure in Cameroon. Cameroon's capital city Yaoundé is also on track to have a tramway, built by the same Belgian and Turkish company currently building the Douala pilot network.

East Africa

Tanzania

Dar es Salaam is the economic center of Tanzania. In 2012, it welcomed the Treni ya Mwakyembe commuter rail system, which can serve a total of 30,000 passengers per day. Considering Dar es Salaam is projected to hit 13.4 million by 2035, this commuter rail system is only a drop in the bucket. A one-way ticket costs $0.25, or $0.50 round trip. Instead of building out a metro project like many other African cities are undertaking Dar es Salaam is focused on creating a BRT system. Dar es Salaam similar to many other rapidly growing urban centers is faced with significant traffic issues. Due to the size of Dar es Salaam, some commuters spend up to two hours commuting each day by very informal dalla dalla minibuses. Transport in Dar es Salaam is further constrained, because the highway network was designed to only handle 35,000 people created during the colonial era.

Ethiopia

The Ethiopian government originally proposed this project in 2006, so this project was rather quickly implemented, opening in 2015. Although opened in 2015 it received little attention until 2017. Addis Ababa, like so many other African cities is undergoing major growth and urbanization. Current international donors and agencies are interested in developing sustainably, so there has been an overwhelming focus on African cities. These projects included Addis Ababa, with the stated goals to reduce car emissions, decrease traffic gridlock, and improve transport equity. China, along with France have both been focused in recent years on developing urban rail lines, China actually was very involved in this project. China through its Chinese Export-Import Bank, provided 85% of the funding for this project, like similar contracts China operates and built the entire system in Ethiopia. Addis Ababa Light-Rail has two lines currently, with a daily ridership of around 150,000 people. The tram has helped reduce the issue of urban sprawl, as Addis Ababa has grown further and further out. Due to this urban sprawl commute times have steadily increased, but the Light-Rail system has allowed for easier commuting for those with the longest distance. In the last few years there has been widespread satisfaction with the system, but some valid complaints related to wait-times, ticketing, overcrowding, and multi-modal commutes.

Uganda