Duala – Nkongsamba railway line

Duala – Nkongsamba / Kumba
Railway facilities of the Northern Railway near Bonaberi (before 1909)
Route length:	189 km
Gauge :	1000 mm ( meter gauge )
Maximum slope :	16.7  ‰
Minimum radius :	120 m
Legend -12 Douala to Ngaoundere Wouri 0 Bonabéri Mpanju 10 Bomono Macka Bomono Susa 26th Mombe 30th Kake 64 0 Mbanga 29 Kumba 67 Nkwangsi 73 Mundame train station 88 Njombe Bajele Penja 107 Lum Nkanja Lala Djombe 128 Mbo 132 Manengoteng Manjo Manengole 142 Melle Ndunge 160 Nkongsamba

The Duala – Nkongsamba railway , also known as the Northern Railway , was built as the Bonabéri – Nkongsambawar railway . It was the first railway to be built in Cameroon after the plantation's own field railways . It was 160 km long, in meter gauge , and opened up a growing area for bananas and cotton . Bonabéri lies on the banks of the Cameroon River (today: Wouri ), across from Douala . It was not until 1955 that the current Douala – Nkongsamba line was built by closing the gap .

history

Map with the planned route (1906)

Stake of more than 100 marks in the Cameroon Railway Company from March 1, 1907

Elaborately built route

The construction of the railway was operated privately and the Cameroon Railway Company was founded for this purpose . The financing of the project was partly based on an interest guarantee from the German Reich . The company received the concession and began construction in 1906. The penetration of the jungle for the route turned out to be complex. 60 giant trees had to be blown up. The first section went into operation in 1909, and in 1911 the line as a whole. Construction and operation were the responsibility of the German Colonial Railway Construction and Operating Company (DKEBBG). The route developed economically well. The planned extension to the north of Nkongsamba , however, did not come about because the terrain there is very mountainous and the construction would have been very complex. The Nordbahn staff consisted of 23 Europeans and 608 locals. The operating resources were 7 tank locomotives , 11 passenger coaches and 80 freight wagons .

After the end of World War I the majority came from Cameroon as mandated territory of France , including all railway lines. The northern runway now belonged to the Chemins de fer de Cameroun (CFC). A structural connection to the second long-distance railway line in Cameroon, the Mittellandbahn , was only established in 1955 over a 12 km long route and a 1850 m long bridge over the Wouri . From 1962 to 1969 a 29 km long branch line to Kumba , branching off the railway in Mbanga , was built. The Mbanga – Nkongsamba section was closed at a later date. The route is no longer served by passenger traffic today . As an alternative, the railway only offers a bus service on this connection .

See also

• List of German colonial railways
• Rail transport in Cameroon

literature

• Franz Baltzer : The colonial railways with a special focus on Africa . 1916. ND Holzminden o. J. ISBN 978-3-8262-0233-9
• Helmut Schroeter: The railways of the former German protected areas in Africa and their vehicles . Frankfurt 1961.
• Helmut Schroeter u. Roel Ramaer: The railways in the formerly German protected areas then and now / German Colonial Railways then and now . Krefeld 1993.

Web links

• The Northern Railway in the German colony of Cameroon

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Schroeter, p. 54.
2. ↑ Schroeter, p. 56.
3. ↑ Schroeter, p. 58.
4. ↑ Camrail timetable and tariffs (PDF; 83 kB)