Chemins de fer du Kivu

Kalundu – Kamaniola
Chemin de fer du Kivu
The route should connect Uvira on Lake Tanganyika with Bukavu on Lake Kiwu
Route length:	94 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Legend to Cairo 137 Bukavu Kiwu Lake 1460 m Col ya businga 1756 m 94 Kamanyola 903 m 84 Luvunghi 69 Lubirizi 46 Sanghe 24 Kiliba Kiliba 12 Kavimvira Kavimvira Mutongwe 4th Uvira 0 Kalundu Lake Tanganyika 776 m to Cape Town

The Chemins de fer du Kivu was a 94 km long narrow-gauge railway with a gauge of 1067 mm (3½ feet ) from Kalundu to Kamaniola in the Congo , which was operated from 1931 to 1958.

history

The construction of the railway was decided in 1928 by the Comité national du Kivu (CNKi), registered as a private company , in order to build a connection from the north end of Lake Tanganyika near Uvira to the south end of Lake Kiwu near Bukavu (Costermansville).

The Compagnie des Chemins de fer du Kivu (CEFAKI) was founded on June 20, 1929. It received the concession on the basis of a resolution of the Belgian Chamber of Deputies of March 1, 1930, which was ratified on April 23, 1930. On July 24, 1946, the Cefaki was integrated into the Office des Transports Coloniaux (OTRACO). The construction of the section from Kalundu to Kamanyola , which went into operation on November 21, 1931 , was carried out by the Compagnie Belge des Chemin de fer et d'Entreprise (CFE).

In the medium term, it was actually planned to integrate the route into the long-haul connection from Cape Town to Cairo ( Cape-Cairo plan ). Due to the high cost of construction, an originally planned extension of the railway from Kamaniola to Costermansville was not carried out.

On July 1, 1958, passenger traffic was discontinued and on December 1, 1958, freight traffic was also discontinued.

Rail vehicles

There were the following rail vehicles:

• 2 steam locomotives with the Mikado wheel arrangement (1'D1 'or 2-8-2 ) with 32 t each
• 2 diesel locomotives with 27 t and 190 hp each, which were put into operation in 1949
• 2 Davenport diesel locomotives that started operating in 1950
• 2 steam shunting tender locomotives, each weighing 22 t
• 88 cars

Traffic volume

The volume of traffic in the early 1950s was as follows:

year	passenger traffic	Freight traffic Mainly petroleum
1953	6,493 passengers	53,994 t
1954	6,782 passengers	75,414 t
1955	7,641 passengers	82,790 t

Web links

• Documents and newspaper articles on Chemins de fer du Kivu in the 20th century press kit of the ZBW - Leibniz Information Center for Economics .

Individual evidence

1. ^ ^{A b} Ferdinand Lebbe: Au fil du rail, XXV. - L'histoire des chemins de fer au Congo , 1950 (French)
2. ^ Belgian Chamber of Representatives - Session of 16 July 1931 (Belgian Chamber of Representatives - Session of 16 July 1931). (French)
3. ^ André Lederer: Les belges à l'étranger .
4. ↑ Route chronicle 1931 .
5. ↑ Route chronicle 1958.
6. ^ ^{A b} Jean Herreweghe: Les Congolâtres: La Société des Chemins de Fer du Kivu (CEFAKI) (French)