The Comité Spécial du Katanga (CSK) created the Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga (CFK) in 1902. It had a capital of 1,000,000 francs. The Congo Free State held 2,400 shares and the businessman and industrialist Robert Williams held 1,600 shares. Théodore Heyvaert was president and Robert Williams was vice-president. The CFK was to build links to the region where the city of Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) would be founded. One line would connect to the Rhodesian railways at Sakania, while another would connect to the port of Bukama on the Lualaba River.[1]
The Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK) was founded in 1906 to develop mines in Katanga. It was also to participate in building a railway to carry material and equipment to the mines and to take away the extracted minerals.[1]
Foundation
Chemin de fer de Katanga reaches Elisabethville in 1910.
On 31 October 1906 the CSK, the Congo Free State and the Société Générale de Belgique founded the Compagnie du Chemin de fer du Bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK) to build a rail link from Bukama to Port Franqui on the Kasai River and to carry out mining research in a defined area. The UMHK acquired almost 10% of the BCK, but the government was the main shareholder. Jean Jadot, who had built the 2,215 kilometres (1,376mi)Beijing-Hankow line in China, was made managing director.[1] The BCK controlled the CFK on behalf of the government. The BCK was to:[1]
Survey, build and operate a railway line from Katanga to Bas-Congo, the Bukama–Port Franccqui (Ilebo) line.
Survey, build and operate a line connecting the Katanga mines to the Portuguese Benguela railway, the Tenke–Dilolo line.
Take over the Free State's share in the CFK and survey, build and operate a line connecting the navigable part of the Lualaba to the southern border of Katanga, the Sakania–Bukama line.
BCK connected the mines of Southern Katanga, or Shaba, to the port of Ilebo on the Kasai River.[2] The 1,123 kilometres (698mi) line from Bukama to Ilebo was started in 1923 and completed in 1928.[2] In Ilebo the minerals were transshipped to riverboats and carried to Kinshasa. From there, they were taken on the Matadi–Kinshasa Railway down to the Atlantic port of Matadi for export. In the 1920s it was proposed to build a rail link from Ilebo to Kinshasha, but this was never implemented.[2]
The Société des Chemins de fer Léopoldville-Katanga-Dilolo (LKD) was created through a 16 September 1927 agreement between the government and BCK, and was an administrative and financial vehicle. The government was its main shareholder, and granted it concessions for the three lines: Bukama–Port-Francqui, Tenke–Dilolo and Port-Francqui–Léopoldville. Construction and operation of the lines was subcontracted to BCK.[1] BCK was responsible for all the track, and operated the network and equipment as a whole.[1] The 523 kilometres (325mi) line from Tenke to Dilolo was completed in 1931. At Dilolo the BCK network connected to the Benguela railway, which carried goods to the port of Lobito on the Atlantic.[2]
The railway network was 1,645 kilometres (1,022mi) long.[2] The gauge of all lines was 1,067mm (3ft6in), the same as that used in South Africa. They were single track, with passing stations. Gradients were no more than 12.5/1000, with compensation for curves with a radius of less than 1,000 metres (3,300ft). Between Tenke and Bukama there were gradients of 15/1000 or 20/1000. The minimum radius of curves was 300 metres (980ft), or in rara cases 200 metres (660ft).[1]
Bukama - Port Franqui, 979 kilometres (608mi), opened July 1928 to passenger traffic.[6]
Bukama - Kamina, 1,452 kilometres (902mi), opened 20 May 1926
Kamina - Mwene-Ditu, 313.6 kilometres (194.9mi), opened 1 March 1928
Mwene-Ditu - Kananga, 243 kilometres (151mi), opened 30 November 1927
Kananga - Mweka, 250 kilometres (160mi), opened 13 February 1928
Mweka - Port Franqui (Ilebo), 172 kilometres (107mi), opened 1 March 1928
Bobb, F. Scott (2010), "Railways"(PDF), Historical Dictionary of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (3ed.), Scarecrow Press, ISBN978-0-8108-6325-5, retrieved 2021-03-31
N'Lemvo Dedengity, Alain Riche (2008), "Historique de la S.N.C.C.", La problématique de l'audit interne dans la gestion des entreprises publiques en République Démocratique du Congo: Cas de «LA SOCIETE NATIONALE DE CHEMINS DE FER DU CONGO (thesis), Institut supérieur du commerce, retrieved 2021-03-30
The Société Nationale des chemins de fer du Congo is the national railway company for the inland railways of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Sir Robert Williams, 1st Baronet, was a Scottish mining engineer, pioneering explorer of Africa, entrepreneur, and railroad developer who was chiefly responsible for the discovery of the vast copper deposits in Katanga Province and Northern Rhodesia.
The Matadi–Kinshasa Railway is a railway line in Kongo Central province between Kinshasa, the capital of Democratic Republic of the Congo, and the port of Matadi.
Rail transport is provided in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), the Société commerciale des transports et des ports (SCTP) (previously Office National des Transports until 2011), and the Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles (CFU).
Mweka is a town in southern-central Democratic Republic of the Congo, situated on the Kasai railway line between Kananga and the Kasai River port of Ilebo.
The Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois (SNCZ) was the state railway company in Zaire formed in 1974 by combining several privately owned railways. It suffered from lack of maintenance of the tracks and rolling stock, weak management, and external factors such as the Angolan Civil War and the collapse of the economy of Zaire under President Mobutu Sese Seko. Despite two projects funded by the World Bank, it had virtually ceased to function by the 1990s. It was replaced in 1995 by the short-lived private company SIZARAIL, which in turn was replaced by the present Société nationale des chemins de fer du Congo.
The Mayumbe line was a 140 km (87 mi) long 610 mm gauge narrow gauge railway in the north west of the Democratic Republic of the Congo between the port of Boma and Tshela.
The Compagnie du chemin de fer du Congo supérieur aux Grands Lacs africains was a Belgian railway company established in 1902 in the Congo Free State, later the Belgian Congo, now the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It provided service in the eastern part of the colony south of Stanleyville (Kisangani) to serve the settlers and mining operations in Katanga. It operated a combination of river steamer service along the Lualaba River and railway links where the river was not navigable, including a link to Lake Tanganyika. In 1960 it became the Société congolaise des chemins de fer des Grands Lacs.
The Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l’Industrie (CCCI) was a private enterprise in the Congo Free State, later the Belgian Congo and then the Democratic Republic of the Congo, whose subsidiaries engaged in a wide range of activities in the Congo between 1887 and 1971. These included railway and river transport, mining, agriculture, banking, trading and so on. It was the largest commercial enterprise in the Congo for many years. It went through various mergers in the years that followed before its successor Finoutremer was liquidated in 2000.
The Compagnie de Chemin de fer du Katanga (CFK) was a railway company in the Congo Free State and Belgian Congo between 1902 and 1952. It held the railway concession that linked the port of Bukama on the navigable section of the Lualaba River through the mining region and the town of Elisabethville (Lubumbashi) to Sakania, where it connected with the Rhodesian railway network. Operations were subcontracted to the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK).
The Société des Chemins de fer Léopoldville-Katanga-Dilolo (LKD) was a railway concession owner in the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo. The network was built, maintained and operated by the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK).
The Société des Chemins de fer Katanga-Dilolo-Léopoldville (KDL) was a railway concession owner in the Congo Free State, Belgian Congo. The network was built, maintained and operated by the Compagnie du chemin de fer du bas-Congo au Katanga (BCK).
Jean Jadot (1862–1932) was a Belgian railway engineer who became a leading banker in the early 20th century.
The Special Committee of Katanga was a parastatal body created in 1900 by the Congo Free State and the Compagnie du Katanga. At first it was responsible for administering the huge Katanga Province on behalf of the Free State and for exploiting the province's mineral resources. Mineral exploration and mining were soon delegated to separate companies. After the Belgian Congo took over from the Free State in 1908, the CSK handed over its administrative powers to the provincial government. However, as a parastatal it remained responsible for many aspects of development in Katanga until independence in 1960, when it was dissolved.
Tanganyika Concessions Limited was a British mining and railway company founded by the Scottish engineer and entrepreneur Robert Williams in 1899. The purpose was to exploit minerals in Northern Rhodesia and in the Congo Free State. Partly-owned subsidiaries included the Union Minière du Haut-Katanga (UMHK), which undertook mining in the Katanga portion of the copperbelt, and the Benguela railway, which provided a rail link across Angola to the Atlantic Ocean. Belgian banks eventually took over control of the company. The Angolan railway concession was returned to the state of Angola in 2001.
The Luao River forms part of the boundary between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. It is a right tributary of the Kasai River.
The following lists events that happened during 1902 in the Congo Free State.
The Tshilongo River is a river in the southeast of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Odon Jadot was a Belgian railway engineer and administrator. He was responsible for building more than 1,650 kilometres (1,030 mi) of railroad in the Belgian Congo. The lines helped carry copper mined in the Katanga Province to the sea via the ports of Matadi in the Congo, Dilolo in Angola and Beira in Mozambique. They also supported troop movements during World War I (1914–1918) and World War II (1939–1045).
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