Rail transport in Angola

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Angola with rail lines
Railway station in Catumbela on the Benguela Railway
Train on the Benguela Railway, undated

The rail transport in Angola is on the ports of Angola aligned. It is carried out on three networks that are not connected. Another route not connected to the three networks has since been discontinued. There are both freight and passenger traffic. In 2010, the total route length was 2,764 kilometers, of which 2,641 kilometers were in the Cape gauge common in southern Africa and 123 kilometers in 600 millimeter gauge (as of 2010). The sole operator is the state company Caminhos de Ferro de Angola (CFA). In 2015 the Benguela Railway was reopened.

topography

Angola is located on the Atlantic Ocean . On the coast the land is flat, to the east it rises fairly evenly to about 2000 meters above sea level. Numerous rivers run through the country. The largest cities in the country are port cities, the three main routes of which are eastward. Angola's neighbors are the Republic of the Congo , the Democratic Republic of the Congo , Zambia and Namibia . There is only a cross-border route to the DR Congo; however, it is out of order. The Angolan exclave Cabinda , which borders the Republic of the Congo and the DR Congo, has no rail connection. The capital Luanda has Angola's most important seaport.

history

Caricature from 1902 showing the Scottish mining engineer Sir Robert Williams with a contract in his pocket to offer Portugal a rail line at Lobito

Angola was a Portuguese colony in the 19th century . After the first plans to develop the country with railway lines by Arsénio Pompílio Pompeu de Carpo in 1848, the first concrete plans began in 1887. By a private railway company became the " Luanda Railway " Luanda- Viana - Lucala built and opened 1899th Until 1909 it was extended as a state railway eastwards to Malanje . Later, a branch line from Zenza do Itombe to Dondo was built.

The second important line was built as a state railway with a gauge of 600 mm. The "Moçamedes Railway" (later: " Namibebahn ") was the connection between the port city of Moçamedes (1985-2016 Namibe ) in the south of the country with the city of Menongue in the interior. Part of the route was opened in 1910. Further sections later led to Dongo and Cassinga before the entire route was opened.

The Benguela Railway was completed in 1912 from the two port cities Lobito and Benguela to Huambo . This included a cogwheel section of around two kilometers with gradients of up to six percent. It was extended to Dilolo in the DR Congo until 1929 in order to be able to transport the copper deposits in the Katanga province there to the Atlantic ports. Together with other railway lines, there was almost a continuous stretch to Dar es Salaam in what was then Tanganyika . Only two ship passages had to be mastered on the 4,000-kilometer route. Later it was possible to reach the Mozambican port of Beira by rail . The Benguela Railway proved to be the most important railway line in Angola.

A fourth railway line to connect a port was the Porto Amboim - Gabela line, also built in 600 mm gauge . Porto Amboim is located between Luanda and Lobito. The route was administered by the Luanda Railway. Furthermore, some branch lines were built, about a 600 mm railway from Lubango on the Namibe – Menongue railway to Chiange , so that Lubango was one of the few railway nodes in Angola. In the 1950s, the Moçamedes Railway was switched from 600 mm gauge to Cape gauge.

Angola gained independence on November 11, 1975. At that time, the civil war in Angola had already started, which lasted until 2002 and largely brought rail traffic to a standstill. From 1975, the Benguela Railway was no longer functional. Several lines, such as the Porto Amboim – Gabela line, have been permanently closed. In 2005, passenger traffic on the Lobito– Cubal section and goods traffic Lobito– Huambo were resumed, and in 2007 local traffic around Huambo.

present

The only operator is the CFA, which carries out both freight and passenger traffic. Only diesel locomotives are used. The operation is divided into three areas

divided up. Furthermore, sections of lines are being repaired after decades of destruction.

Freight transport

Freight traffic takes place on the existing routes, primarily to and from the seaports on the Atlantic. The Benguela Railway, the most important route in the country, has been fully navigable again since 2015 after mines were removed and rebuilt.

passenger traffic

Passenger traffic is sparse. Local trains run several times a day on the Luanda Railway between Luanda and Viana. A pair of Luanda – Dondo trains ran twice a week in 2007/08. Since the line to Malanje was reopened , freight trains and several passenger trains have been running between Viana and Malanje every week.

Six pairs of trains run between Lobito and Benguela every day. A pair of trains runs weekly from Lobito to Cubal. It uses the northeastern bypass of Benguela. One pair of trains each runs between Caála and Huambo and Huambo and Katchiungo . The entire route from the coast to Huambo was reopened on August 30, 2011.

Trains run twice a week on the Namibe Railway from Namibe to Lubango and six times a week from Lubango to Matala . A pair of trains is tied through Matala to Tchamutete near Cassinga.

Planning

The Tsumeb – Oshikango railway in Namibia, which has existed since 2006, is to be extended northwards across the Angolan border and the city of Ondjiva to Lubango on the Namibebahn.

The new Angola International Airport in Luanda should be connected by new line to be built at the breakpoint Baia Luanda Railway can be connected. The route will be eight kilometers long as planned and have six stops, namely Bungo, Musseques, Viana, Kapalanca, Baia, and Novo Aeroporto Internacional de Luanda as the terminus. The five stops are to be partially equipped with shopping centers and check-in counters for the airport. According to the announcement, the opening is planned for 2017.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ indexmundi.com (English), accessed April 30, 2010
  2. ^ A b c Portuguese West Africa: Angola. In: Viktor von Röll (ed.): Encyclopedia of the Railway System . 2nd Edition. Volume 8: Passenger tunnel - Schynige Platte Railway . Urban & Schwarzenberg, Berlin / Vienna 1917, p  95 -97.
  3. ↑ Report at asia.nikkei.com ( Memento from June 13, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) (English)
  4. ↑ Timetable of the Luanda Railway 2007/08 , accessed on May 3, 2010
  5. ↑ Timetable of the Benguela Railway 2007, unofficial , accessed on May 3, 2010
  6. ↑ Timetable of the Namibebahn 2009/10 , accessed on May 3, 2010
  7. ^ Declaration by the Angolan Minister of Transport, Augusto Tomas, of May 29, 2015 ( Memento of February 15, 2016 in the Internet Archive ), website of the Angolan Embassy in Morocco
  8. ↑ Article on the railway line and its planned opening in 2017 on www.webrails.tv, accessed on February 15, 2016