Namib Railway

Moçâmedes – Dongo – Menongue
Opening on September 29, 1905
Angola's railway network (in the south the Namibebahn) ━━━   1067mm lane (Cape lane) ━━━   610mm lane (narrow gauge) ━━━   Main connecting roads ━━━   State borders
Route length:	756 km
Gauge :	1067 mm ( cape track )
Legend 0 Moçâmedes M 10 Saco-Mar 76 Caraculo 122 Munhino 162 Bibala 180 Humbia 218 Quilemba 246 Lubango 329 Chicungo 369 Quipungo 378 Gungo 425 Matala Gunge 509 0 Dongo 7th Entroncamento 27 Entroncamento Ramal Jamba 43 Jamba 75 Chamutete Cidade 80 Chamutete Minas 543 Colui 579 Kuvango 635 Liunda 654 Cuchi 683 Luasenha 756 Menongue

The Namibebahn , formerly Linha de Moçâmedes , today mostly Caminhos de Ferro de Moçâmedes , is a railway line in Angola . It represents a transport connection to the hinterland and serves as a transport route for the mineral resources extracted there, especially ores.

course

The route leads from the coastal town of Moçâmedes (1985-2016 Namibe) to the east. The end point is the town of Menongue (Serpa Pinto until 1975). The largest en-route station is Lubango (formerly Sá da Bandeira).

With a length of 756 kilometers, it is the second longest railway line in Angola.

Old locomotives in the Sá da Bandeira workshops, 1972

history

The construction of the line began in 1905 under Portuguese colonial administration . After several stages of expansion, it was completed in 1963.

Large parts of the route were destroyed in the Angolan civil war (1975-2002). In the course of the reconstruction after the peace treaty, it was comprehensively repaired by a Chinese company. In June 2010 it was announced that the rest of the reconstruction was now in the hands of the Indian state-owned company RITES. On December 23, 2010, the Angolan Transport Minister Augusto da Silva Tomás announced the official reopening of the route for 2011.

After the gradual commissioning from 2010, President José Eduardo dos Santos inaugurated the entire route on August 25, 2012, with the arrival of the renewed railway line at its end point in Menongue . In addition, a number of stations along the route were built or extensively renovated by 2013.

See also

• Rail transport in Angola

Web links

• History of the railway line at angolabelazebelo.com (Portuguese)
• Video about the Namibebahn (Portuguese)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Timetable and description of the route
2. ↑ AngolaHub . June 2, 2010. Retrieved December 19, 2010.
3. ↑ Angop reports on the reopening of the line (Portuguese)
4. ↑ Article of August 26, 2012 on the opening by the President , state news agency ANGOP , accessed on May 10, 2014
5. ↑ Article of November 2, 2013 on the progress of the railway construction program , state news agency ANGOP, accessed on May 10, 2014