The FCE is a truly legendary railway line! After traveling it, you'll have a captivating and incredible story to tell: the rails, the carriages, the people, the landscapes… Only one train remains in operation, and only first-class passengers get to sit! Your journey will be nothing short of unforgettable.

An old railway line that has come a long way

The Fianarantsoa – East Coast railway line dates from the colonial era and has never been renovated. The rails date back to 1889 and come from Krupp steelworks in Germany, salvaged from an Alsatian railway line at the end of World War I. The carriages, meanwhile, came from Switzerland.

Construction took 10 years, from 1926 to 1936, with the goal of opening up the eastern part of the country to facilitate the export of Malagasy agricultural products to Europe. The plan was to create the Manakara-Fianarantsoa route (railway), followed by Fianarantsoa-Antananarivo-Toamasina (road), with the port located at Toamasina.

The FCE spans 163 km of track, 18 stations, 48 tunnels (the longest measuring 1,072 m), 67 bridges, and 4 major viaducts – and even an airport! Indeed, the line passes across the runway of Manakara Airport. The route from the East Coast between Manakara and Fianarantsoa features an elevation gain of 1,200 m with gradients reaching up to 3.66%, one of the steepest in the world.

A simply spectacular journey

It's important to understand that the FCE is genuinely strategic for the region. It's even vital for around 200,000 farmers. Remote villages nestled deep within the emerald forest would be completely cut off from the outside world without this line. These farmers would have no way to transport their products and goods.

With only one locomotive in working order, the line operates just two passenger round trips per week. Each journey requires approximately 300 liters of diesel and takes between 12 and 18 hours! At the station, farmers rush to the carriages to pile in their merchandise: nearly 400 passengers and 200 tonnes of cargo! No wonder the average speed is only 20 km/h!

This pace, however, leaves travelers (especially tourists) plenty of time to admire the landscape: steep cliffs, hillsides dotted with banana plants, breadfruit trees, mango trees, and traveler's palms (Madagascar's emblematic tree), rice paddies, waterfalls… These are magnificent green and water-filled landscapes accompanied by a sweet fruity fragrance. Whether inside or outside the train, fruit is everywhere!

Cameras at the ready:

· Sahambavy (KM 21), Madagascar's only tea plantation,

Ranomena (KM 38) and its 1,072 m tunnel,

· Andrambovato (KM 48), crossing a bridge nestled between a waterfall and a cascade each about twenty meters high,

· Tolongoina (KM 62) and its 20 km stretch with a 600 m elevation gain through primary forest,

· Manapatrana (KM 79) and its 137 m long viaduct,

· Sahasinaka (KM 114), where the hillsides gradually bare themselves, signaling the approach of the sea and Manakara.

A journey that's nothing short of thrilling

There are 18 stations, but often far more stops due to the age of the carriages, the poorly maintained rails, and the difficult terrain. It's either a mechanical issue or a track problem. Rail workers and passengers alike feel anxiety throughout the journey! Mechanical trouble, especially with braking when descending steep grades, is always a possibility.

Cyclones only make matters worse, and those of the year 2000 caused particularly significant damage, notably 280 landslides along the line. During the rainy and cyclone season, fallen tree trunks can block the tracks. Rail workers and passengers may spend hours clearing them from the path.

The other stops are far more lively and animated, with women and children jostling at station platforms to offer travelers their trays: exotic fruits (mandarins, bananas, pineapples, breadfruit, etc.), cakes, meatballs, sausages, fried chicken, meat skewers, crayfish, fritters, samosas, beverages (coffee and more), spices (black pepper, green pepper, chili peppers, vanilla…), flowers, handicrafted goods, and more. Plenty of delightful encounters ahead!

And here's an itinerary we've created to let you experience this magnificent train journey in full: Canals and Lush East Madagascar

See you soon on board!