In Mali, dreams and sadness for the Sahel express Not a single train has travelled on the line connecting the capitals of Mali and Senegal since May 17, 2018, when the company collapsed. Knee-high weeds grow on the track at Bamako station. But even today, many of the railway's workers -- unpaid but still technically employed -- still show up at the station, a colonial-era bijou in ochre stone, complete with clock and signs for the ticket office.