Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo

National Railway of the Congo
Gare de Lubumbashi
The theoretical network of the SNCC
Route length:	5033.0 km
Power system :	25 kV 1/50 Hz  ~
Top speed:	15 km / h

The Société Nationale des Chemins de fer du Congo ( National Railway Company of the Congo , abbreviated to SNCC ) is a state-owned company in the Democratic Republic of the Congo that operates the country's railways, ports, shipping and bus routes.

The SNCC operates the river ports of Ilebo , Kisangani , Kindu and Ubunu as well as the port of Kalemie on Lake Tanganyika .

Route network

The SNCC's route network theoretically covers 5,033 km with different gauges, all of which date back to the colonial era and are mostly in a desolate state or in some cases no longer passable.

west

A 366 km route leads from Kinshasa to the Atlantic port of Matadi . Inland vessels can be loaded there, which ensures the connection between this main port for ocean-going vessels and the inland areas of the navigable Congo . However, this route is operated by ONATRA, which is also state owned, on behalf of SNCC. Together with the 136 km long Mayumbe Railway (gauge 615 mm) dismantled in the 1980s , it formed the West region .

east

A 125 km long meter gauge stretch leads from Kisangani , bypassing the Stanley Falls to Ubundu . The operating region East, based in Kalemie, also includes 1,163 km of Cape Gauge routes further south (former Great Lakes Railway). A ferry connection on Lake Tanganyika provides a connection to the Tanzanian railway network , which also runs from Kigoma to Dar es Salaam and the port of Dar es Salaam . The persistently poor road conditions and the freight tariffs have made road transport an attractive alternative for a long time. The World Bank is supporting the revitalization of the route network with an 8-year plan. Funds totaling $ 631 million were made available from the Congolese finance and transportation ministries. In 2015, the first locomotive bought from China went into operation in Lubumbashi.

South and central parts of the country

In the south-east of the country, the route network covers 3,516 km. This network connects the Katanga region, which is rich in raw materials, directly with the railways of Zambia ( Zambia Railways ) near Kasumbalesa , Angola ( Benguela Railway ) near Dilolo , and indirectly also with those of South Africa ( Transnet ), Namibia ( TransNamib ), Zimbabwe ( National Railways of Zimbabwe ) , Malawi (see also: Rail transport in Malawi ), Mozambique ( Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique ) and with the TAZARA . Operationally, this network is divided into the Eastern region (see above); Center in Kanaga, 978 km cape gauge routes and south in Likasi, which comprises 1377 km cape gauge routes. In the south region, 858 km with single-phase alternating current 50 Hz 25,000 V are electrified. The division into these regions is essentially based on the predecessor companies.

north

In the north, in the Orientale province , the main line of the 1,026 km long Vicicongo route runs from the Congo towards the Kilo Moto gold mines , but ends in Mungbere . However, the line was last used continuously by a train at the beginning of the 2000s. This network (operating region North , Isiro) was spun off at the end of the 1990s under the name Uelle-Bahnen (CFU) and placed directly under the portfolio ministry.

Local transport

In addition, there are two small suburban networks ( chemin de fer urbain ) of 75 km in Kinshasa (ONATRA) and 10 km from Lubumbashi (SNCC).

Rolling stock

	1978	2005
Diesel locomotives	241
Electric locomotives	61
Diesel railcars	20th
Passenger cars	304
Freight wagons	8691
Company car	904

history

Opening train in Kindu after the route was restored in 2006

The SNCC was created by Law No. 74/027 of December 2nd, 1974. Its tasks have been modified and completed by Decrees No. 0050 of November 7th 1995 and 070/2002 of 06/24/2002. Law No. 78/002 of January 6th, 1978 makes them subject to the law of public companies, which is more specifically defined by Order No. 78/207 of May 5th, 1978 relating to the statutes of the company and by Decree No. 0050 of November 7th Modified in 1995. The development before was as follows:

• 1902: Founding of the Compagnie de Chemin de Fer du Katanga (CFK)
• 1906: Founding of the Compagnie du Chemin de Fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK)
• 1927: Foundation of the Société de Chemin de Fer Léopoldville-Katanga-Dilolo (LKD)
• 1952: LKD and CFK merge to form Compagnie de Chemin de Fer du Katanga-Dilolo-Léopoldville (KDL)
• 1961: The BCK is split into an old BCK under Belgian law and a new BCK under Congolese law.
• 1970: Resumption of all activities of the new BCK by the Société Congolaise KDL, which emerged from the Compagnie de Chemin de Fer Kinshasa-Dilolo-Lubumbashi.
• 1974: Merger of KDL, CFL, (Office Congolais des Chemins de Fer des Grands Lacs), CVZ (Chemins de Fer Vicinaux du Zaïre), CFMK (Chemin de Fer Matadi-Kinshasa) and CFM (Chemin de Fer de Mayombe) to form the Société National des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois (SNCZ)
• 1991: Dissolution of SNCZ, establishment of SNCZ Holding and its subsidiaries OCS (Office des Chemins de Fer du Sud, French for Office of the Southern Railway ), SFE (Société des Chemins de Fer de l'Est, French for Eastern Railway Company ) and CFU (Office des Chemins de Fer des Ueles, French for Uele-Bahnen ).
• 1995: In November 1995 dissolution of the SNCC / Holding and its subsidiaries, signing of a contract for the use of the railways by the private company SIZARAIL, which was dissolved in 1997 after the rebels led by Laurent-Desiré Kabila to the SIZARAIL director Patrick Claes exactly 24 hours gave to pack the bags. Because South African diamond companies had worked with Mobutu, there was no longer any South African railway management. As a result, the tonnage of goods dropped from over 550,000 tons per semester to just 1,559 tons in the following year. That was just 14 percent of the transport volume generated under South African management. It has continued to decline since then, and some routes can no longer be used or only every few months due to a lack of rolling stock.
• 1997: Resumption of all activities by the SNCC.

Shares in the original railway company Chemins de Fer Katanga Dilolo Léopoldville (KDL) for 2,304,023,500 francs are now available as non-valeurs in antiquarian fashion.

literature

• Charles Blanchart: Le Rail au Congo Belge. 1889-1920 . Blanchart, Bruxelles 1993.
• Charles Blanchart: Le Rail au Congo Belge. 1920-1945 . Blanchart, Bruxelles 1999.

Web links

• Official website (English)

Individual evidence

1. ↑ According to www.rgc.cd
2. ^ Tanzania Railways Ltd .: Railways Network. Central . at www.trl.co.tz (English)
3. ↑ Jessica Cochran, Lucy Styles: 2.4 Democratic Republic of Congo Railway Assessment . at www.dlca.logcluster.org (English)
4. ^ Railway Directory & Year Book 1979, p. 161.
5. ^ The Railway Directory and Year Book 1979 states a length of 679 km (ibid, p. 597).
6. ^ Railway Directory and Year Book 1979, p. 597.
7. ↑ Attention: The information on the card is inaccurate. See commentary on map and books by Blanchart.
8. ↑ fahrplancenter.com
9. ^ Railway Directory and Year Book 1979, p. 161.
10. ↑ ic-lubum.cd ( Memento of the original from October 4, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 
11. ^ The economic background to the civil war in Zaire . In: Die Zeit , No. 21/1997
12. ↑ Comazar - The Private Pan - African Railway Operator Sizarail Statistics ( Memento of September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
13. ↑ ic-lubum.cd  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Attention: Do not confuse tonnes per year with the much higher internal unnités de trafic .  
14. ↑ fahrplancenter.com