Congo Railway

Congo Railway
First train arrives in Kindu in 2004 after the rehabilitation of the line

The Congo Railway Company (CNC) or the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC) (formerly Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois, SNCZ) is the national railway company for the inland railways of the DR Congo. Because of a civil war, the railway was not functioning from 1998 until June 29, 2004. During the war, 500 km of railway in the provinces of Maniema and Katanga were destroyed. A million dollar grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is helping to pay for the section's repair. Charities often use the railway to distribute food and other supplies. Despite foreign support, SNCC was again on the brink of collapse in 2010; to prevent this, in June 2010 the World Bank gave a 255 million USD grant.[1]

The Matadi-Kinshasa Railway is operated by ONATRA, under an agreement with the CNC.

Contents

Network

For more detail, see Transport in DR Congo

Railways

3,641 kilometres (of which 858 kilometres electrified) in Katanga, Kasaï-Occidental, Kasaï-Oriental and Maniema.

Rail gauge 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)  :

  • Lubumbashi to Ilebo Only remaining weekly through passenger train is timetabled to take six days. Agreement signed in September 2007 for China to fund an extension to Kinshasa.[2]
  • Kamina to Kindu
  • Tenke (a siding on the Lubumbashi to Ilebo mainline) to Dilolo (Angola border at Luau, rail has connection to the still not fully operational Benguela Railway ending at Lobito on the Atlantic Ocean.)
  • Kabalo to Kalemie

Rail gauge 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 38 in):

Lakes and rivers

Ports

  • Ilebo river port (Kasai River)
  • Kalemie and Kalundu (Lake Tanganyika)
  • Bukavu and Goma (Lake Kivu)

Road links

  • Kalundu to Bukavu (128 kilometres)

See also

References

  1. ^ "Railway Gazette: Grant to save DR Congo railway from collapse". http://www.railwaygazette.com/news/single-view/view/10/grant-to-save-dr-congo-railway-from-collapse.html. Retrieved 2010-07-23. 
  2. ^ Chinese to plug Ilebo – Kinshasa gap in DR Congo Railway Gazette International October 2007

External links