Benguela Railway

Lobito-Dilolo
Benguela Railway
Route length:	1350 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Top speed:	90 km / h
Legend 0 Lobito Central 12 ° 20 ′ 55 ″ S, 13 ° 32 ′ 32 ″ E 3 Lobito-Compão 12 ° 22 ′ 50 ″ S, 13 ° 32 ′ 25 ″ E 7th KM7 12 ° 24 ′ 25 ″ S, 13 ° 32 ′ 23 ″ E 11 Catumbela 12 ° 25 ′ 54 ″ S, 13 ° 32 ′ 22 ″ E Variant of Cubal 26th Damba Maria 31 Cavaco 33 Benguela 12 ° 34 ′ 38 "S, 13 ° 24 ′ 43" E 45 Chivanda 51 Sao Pedro 68 Binga 81 Coruteva 86 Lucanda 94 Portela 101 Chivite 108 Capunda 120 Catengue 132 Cavinjal 140 solo 149 Sapa Negra Mina Cango Ombe Cabio Variant of Cubal 161 Caimbambo 169 Exercise 177 Calenguer 186 Cavitumba 193 (old) 153 (new) Cubal 229 Chimboa 245 Vindongo 251 Ganda 258 Lonjava 267 Alto Catumbela 276 Babaera 294 Quinjenje 307 Tonga 315 Cuma 323 Chênga 339 Longonjo 365 Lépi 395 Caála 408 Dango 423 Huambo 453 Cambuio 469 Novas Aguas 478 Katchiungo 517 Chinguar 543 Cutato 561 Sápinde 578 Capeio 625 Bié 650 Chipeta 672 Camacupa 722 Cuanza 741 Cuéli 761 Cuiva 781 Cuemba 805 Chitende 820 Savinguila 842 Munhango 861 Simoje 878 Cangonga 904 Cavimbe 920 Sachanga 940 Cangumbe 959 Cachipoque 979 Saleno 998 Chicala 1016 Luena 11 ° 46 ′ 59 ″ S, 19 ° 54 ′ 34 ″ E 1033 Cameja 1055 Camitongo 1074 Luculo 1095 Léua 11 ° 39 ′ 19 ″ S, 20 ° 26 ′ 53 ″ E 1115 Sandando 1045 Lumeje 11 ° 33 ′ 19 ″ S, 20 ° 46 ′ 56 ″ E 1152 Cassai 1174 Chabaia 1196 Chifumaje 1217 Caifuche 1239 Luacano 11 ° 12 ′ 51 ″ S, 21 ° 39 ′ 11 ″ E 1259 Mutuécai 1279 Mucussueje 1301 Cafungo 1320 Camuxito 1332 Luau 10 ° 42 ′ 19 ″ S, 22 ° 13 ′ 35 ″ E Kasai ; Angola / DR Congo 10 ° 41 ′ 54 ″ S, 22 ° 19 ′ 25 ″ E 1350 Dilolo 10 ° 41 ′ 55 ″ S, 22 ° 20 ′ 39 ″ E after Kolwezi

The Benguela Railway ( Portuguese Caminho de Ferro de Benguela ) is a 1344 kilometer long railway line in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo , which was laid in cape gauge of 1067 mm. It was destroyed in many places during the Angolan civil war and reopened in 2015. It belongs to the state railway company Caminhos de Ferro de Angola .

The Benguela Railway runs from the port city of Lobito via Benguela to Katanga in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. From there, the rail network of the Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo runs via Kasumbalesa to Zambia and on to Zimbabwe , Mozambique , South Africa and Tanzania .

history

The Portuguese government initiated the construction of the railway in 1899 to open up the hinterland and the mineral-rich Belgian Congo . In 1902 the Briton Sir Robert Williams, a friend of Cecil Rhodes ', took over the construction and completed the connection to Luau on the border with the Congo by 1929 . The route quickly proved profitable, although trains took up to three days to complete the route. The steam locomotives , mostly of the Garratt type , were fired with eucalyptus wood that was obtained in large, railway-owned plantations.

Until 1948 there were at Lengue , east of Benguela, a particularly steep section with Riggenbach - gear drive could be overcome. This was replaced by a bypass route with a lower gradient. During the Congo crisis , the Benguela Railway functioned as an external link to the unrecognized state of Katanga .

1972 began work on the variant do Cubal that the port of Lobito on a north leading to the main line route with Cubal association. This route had fewer curves and significantly larger curve radii and was around 40 kilometers shorter. The new line was opened in October 1974, shortly before Angola's independence. At the same time, most of the steam locomotives were replaced by General Electric diesel locomotives . In the Angolan civil war that followed almost immediately , the route was the target of attacks due to its strategic importance. It was largely destroyed in the process. Most locomotives in 2001 were only worth scrap; the covered wagons served as accommodation for people. During the civil war, the Tolunda rail accident occurred in 1994, with 300 victims.

By September 20, 2006, the 478 kilometer long section of the Benguela Railway in the section between Lobito and Katchiungo in Central Angola was put back into operation via the do Cubal variant . The People's Republic of China invested 1.83 billion US dollars to completely restart the 1,344-kilometer line. The company has been managed since June 2010 by José Carlos Gomes, the former general manager of the port of Lobito.

For 2011, the freight traffic on the route is estimated at 7,000 tons, in the first half of 2018 it was 210,000 tons. In the same period, 580,000 passengers were counted.

On July 27, 2017, the completed line was handed over to the Angolan authorities by the Chinese construction company China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR20). The official handover took place on October 3, 2019 in Lobito, after the last work on stations, platforms and bridges had been completed.

Restoration of the entire route

The reconstruction of the line between Munhango and Luau started in February 2009 and was led by the Chinese construction company China Railway 20 Bureau Group Corporation (CR-20). The Benguela – Huambo route was opened to traffic on August 30, 2011, the entire route to Dilolo with the opening of the bridge over the border river Kasai in early 2015.

In November 2005 Daniel Quipache, director of the Benguela Railway announced that the line to Luau would be restored; it was 1301 kilometers of rail to the region of Moxico . The PR China provided a loan for this. The restoration of the railroad line was included in national railroad planning, at an estimated cost of $ 200 million. In addition to the restoration of the line, the plan also included the renovation of the stations, wagons and locomotives. From 2005 the route was completed in the following sections:

• With the Calenga Santa Iria project, the line between Caála and Huambo was restored.
• The 153 kilometers from Lobito to Cubal (including a new bridge at km 79 over the Halu River) started operating in July 2005.
• The Cubal – Huambo section was used again on June 12, 2011 for the first time.
• From November 29, 2013, the section from Luena to Luau was used again. On this occasion, Angolan ministers, the minister for natural and mineral resources of Zambia and the governors of the Angolan provinces of Moxico , Malanje and Lunda Sul took part in the maiden voyage, alongside officials from the transport ministry, the state railway authority INCFA ( Instituto Nacional dos Caminhos-de-Ferro de Angola ), the provincial government and executives of the railway company CFB ( Caminhos de Ferro de Benguela ). The seven new train stations of Luculo , Léua , Sandando , Kameia , Cassai-Gar , Caifuchi and Mucussueji as well as the two new bridges over the rivers Lumeji and Mucussueji were opened.
• On August 13, 2014, the bridge over the border river Kasai to the Democratic Republic of the Congo was opened and the Benguela Railway became an international rail link again. After 39 years, the railway is back in continuous operation.
• In July 2019, the President of the Board of Directors of CFB, Luís Teixeira, announced the construction of a branch from Benguela to the coastal town of Baía Farta . From there, salt and fish are to be exported by rail to the neighboring countries of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia. A construction time - including the bridges and train stations - of three years is expected.

In January 2017 the first 15 "C30 ACi" diesel locomotives were delivered by GE Transportation . This refutes various claims that the line was rebuilt in standard gauge . In July 2019, the CFB had 56 locomotives on this line - 46 of which are from the US company GE Transportation - and 66 railway wagons of various types.

gallery

• 

  CFB train driver 1973

• 

  Benguela Railway Station (2015)

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  Level crossing in the center of Benguela

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  Benguela Railway Station in Katumbela

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  Charter train Lobito – Benguela with 1930s equipment

Web links

Commons : Caminho de Ferro de Benguela  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

• Pictures and information from the Benguela Railway (Portuguese)
• Historical pictures of the Benguela Railway
• Reports and photos from the Benguela Railway before 1936 (English)
• Historical pictures of the routes and of train stations
• 2007 timetable
• Commissioning of the Lobito - Huambo line
• Comboio no Huambo em grande velocidade Review article by Jornal de Angola on the CfB on the occasion of the start of operations to Huambo (Portuguese; archive version)
• https://sites.google.com/site/cfbumahistoriasucinta/ History of the Benguela Railway Company, written in 2008 (Portuguese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ The variant do Cubal (English), accessed on June 12, 2010
2. ↑ Chinese-built Benguela Railway handed over to Angola xinhuanet.com , October 3, 2019, accessed on March 21, 2020 (English)
3. ↑ Angola: Empresas públicas de transportes com novos conselhos de administração (Portuguese; archive version from 2015)
4. ↑ 2ª Sessão Extraordinária CM 21 May 2010
5. ↑ Benguela Railway in Angola brings new impetus. german.china.org.cn from September 18, 2018, accessed on July 23, 2019
6. ↑ Final handover of Benguela Railway 'renews people's hope' railwaygazette.com , October 8, 2019, accessed on March 21, 2020 (English)
7. ↑ Ministério dos Transportes: PR reinaugura ligação ferroviária Lobito / Huambo Announcement from the Angolan Ministry of Transport of September 15, 2011 (Portuguese)
8. ↑ ^{a b} Markus M. Haefliger: Benguela Railway with a new order . In: NZZ . tape 236 , no. 39 , February 17, 2015, p. 23 ( nzz.ch ).
9. ↑ Article from November 29, 2013 on the inauguration of the track , website of the state television broadcaster TPA , accessed on May 31, 2014
10. ↑ red, hjs: Lobito – Luau (–Dilolo) route . In: IBSE Telegram 237 (October 2014), p. 7.
11. ↑ redeangola.info
12. ↑ railjournal.com: GE diesel locomotives arrive in Angola on January 25, 2017
13. ↑ macauhub / AO / CN: China Railway Construction completes rebuilding of Angola's Benguela railroad ( Memento of October 18, 2016 in the Internet Archive ). News from August 14, 2014 at www.macauhub.com.mo (English)
14. ↑ Nikkei Asian Review: China-aided trans-Africa railway line likely to transform regional trade . News from August 25, 2014 on www.asia.nikkei.com (English)
15. ↑ CFB projecta ligação ferroviária entre Lobito e Baía Farta angop.ao , July 13, 2019, accessed on March 21, 2020 (Portuguese)

 Map with all coordinates: OSM | WikiMap