Malawi Railways

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Malawi Railways border station in southern Malawi (1984)

The railway company Malawi Railways was the state railway company in Malawi until 1999 .

history

Malawi Railways had a rail network of 797 kilometers in Cape Gauge . Almost all lines are single-track to this day and have been developed for axle loads of 15 t. In 1984 Malawi Railways had 53 diesel locomotives , 41 passenger cars and 888 freight cars of various types.

Malawi Railways' routes are all in the southern half of the country. The line begins in Mchinji , crosses a high plateau (1,200 m), reaches the capital Lilongwe , then descends to Chipoka on Lake Malawi (474 m) to the port and on to Nkaya . There a route branches off to the border town of Nayuchi and on to the Mozambican deep-sea port Nacala . The other route leads via Blantyre , Bangula , Nsanje and from the border to the Mozambican port of Beira .

With Canadian development aid , Malawi built the 170-kilometer connection between Nkaya and Cuamba on the Mozambican route Nacala- Lichinga in the 1970s in order to be able to reach the Mozambican deep-sea port Nacala.

Malawi Railways was privatized on December 1, 1999 and was subsequently operated by the Railroad Development Corporation in Pittsburgh , USA , which operated various short routes in several countries. Operation has been carried out by the Mozambican investor group Insitec since 2008 .

Data

  • Greatest slope: 2.27%
  • Rail weight: 40.3 kg / m
  • Distance between thresholds: 0.7 m
  • Smallest curve radius: 120 m
  • Maximum train length: 485 m, 120 axles (in a few places 240 m, 72 axles)

See also

Web links