The station was officially inaugurated on 7 April 2014, with a ceremony and the arrival of the first train. The ceremony was attended by the Nigerien president
Mahamadou Issoufou, along with the presidents of
Benin,
Thomas Boni Yayi, and
Togo,
Faure Gnassingbé; and
Vincent Bolloré, chairman of the
French group
Bolloré. The group set up the structures for the reception of invited guests, and a section of 500 m of
track for the circulation of the inaugural train, consisting of a
diesel locomotive and some
passenger cars. In the same day, it was also inaugurated, by the station, the "Bluezone Niamey". But no trains have ever circulated here, and some parts of the track were already so badly eroded by 2019 (by water) that the entire line has become unusable. In Niamey station itself, a kink in the tracks caused by heat expansion - and bad construction techniques - makes it impossible for the train to even leave the station (see image). Further down the line, but still within the city limits, an accident with a fuel truck in May 2019 damaged the rails to such an extent that trains would not be able to pass that location (see image). ==Services and projects==