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The history of rail transport in Angola began during the nineteenth century, when Angola was a colony of Portugal. It has involved the construction, operation and destruction of four separate, unconnected, coast-to-inland systems, in two different gauges. Operations on three of those systems have been largely restored; the other system has been closed.
Plans to develop Angola by constructing railway lines existed from 1887. Two years later, the Luanda Railway (Portuguese : Caminhos de Ferro de Luanda) (Luanda–Viana–Lucala) was built and opened in the north of the colony, at the initiative of a private railway company. By 1909, that line had been extended eastwards to Malanje as a state railway. Later, a branch line was built from Zenza do Itombe to Dondo.
The second significant line, the Moçâmedes Railway (Portuguese: Linha de Moçâmedes), was built as a state railway, in 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) gauge. The Moçâmedes Railway connects the port city of Moçâmedes, in the south of the colony, with the inland town of Menongue. In 1910, the first section of this line was opened to traffic. Other sections were later built to Dongo and Cassinga before the line was completed to Menongue in 1961. [1] [2] A branch line was built from Lubango to Chiange, making Lubango one of Angola's few rail junctions. The Moçâmedes Railway was regauged to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge in 1950. [3]
The Benguela Railway (Portuguese: Caminho de Ferro de Benguela) was completed in 1912, to link the two port cities of Lobito and Benguela with Huambo. This line, in central Angola, included an approximately 2 km (1.2 mi) long rack railway portion, with gradients of up to six percent.
By 1929, the line had been extended to Dilolo, now in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, to enable the copper deposits in the Congolese province of Katanga to be transported to the Atlantic ports. Together with other railway lines, this extended line yielded an almost continuous railway route to Dar es Salaam, in what was then Tanganyika. Only two sections on the 4,000 km (2,500 mi) route were required to be negotiated by ship. Later, it was possible to reach the Mozambican port of Beira by rail.
The Benguela Railway proved to be most important railway line in Angola.
A fourth railway line to connect the Angolan inland with a port was built in 1925 to serve coffee plantations on Amboim plateau, in 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge, and linked Porto Amboim with Gabela. Porto Amboim is on the coast between Luanda and Lobito. The Porto Amboim–Gabela line was managed by the Luanda Railway. It was 130 km (81 mi) long and closed in 1975. [3]
On 11 November 1975, Angola became independent. By then, the Angolan civil war had already begun. The civil war lasted until 2002, and brought rail traffic in Angola almost to a standstill. As early as 1975, the Benguela Railway was no longer functional. Several lines, such as the Porto Amboim–Gabela line, were later closed down permanently.
After the end of the civil war, the Angolan government turned to Chinese companies to rehabilitate the three main colonial-era railways. The Luanda Railway and the Benguela Railway were rebuilt by the state-owned China Railway Construction Corporation Limited, while the Moçâmedes Railway was rebuilt by a Chinese mining company. [4]
Transport in Angola comprises:
Moçâmedes is a city in southwestern Angola, capital of Namibe Province. The city's current population is 255,000. Founded in 1840 by the Portuguese colonial administration, the city was named Namibe between 1985 and 2016. Moçâmedes has a cool dry climate and desert vegetation, because it is near the Namib Desert.
The Benguela Railway is a Cape gauge railway line that runs through Angola from west to east, being the largest and most important railway line in the country. It also connects to Tenke in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and to the Cape to Cairo Railway.
Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway company of Zambia, one of the two major railway organisations in Zambia. The other system is the binational TAZARA Railway (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.
Porto Amboim is a port town in Cuanza Sul Province, Angola with a population of 65,000; it comprises an area of 4,638 km2. In the past Porto Amboim was connected by an isolated 123 km 610 mm narrow gauge railway to Gabela, albeit closed in 1987 due to the civil war and to the abandonment of most coffee plantations, the biggest source of revenue from Gabela. Originally Porto Amboim was known as Kissonde, a small village later colonized in 1587 by the Portuguese naming it Benguela and later Benguela Velha due to the creation of another village today known as Benguela located 350 km south of Benguela Velha. In 1923, the name was changed to Porto Amboim. Today (2014) Porto Amboim is one of the growing areas for the offshore industry. The pre-salt in front of the coast of Angola, with Porto Amboim in the centre is a planned development area. With companies as Paenal, a joint venture between Sonangol, SBM and DSME and Heerema Porto Amboim, the two major offshore fabrication yards, Porto Amboim is developing.
Rail transport in Angola consists of three separate Cape gauge lines that do not connect: the northern Luanda Railway, the central Benguela Railway, and the southern Moçâmedes Railway. The lines each connect the Atlantic coast to the interior of the country. A fourth system once linked Gunza and Gabala but is no longer operational.
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).
The Archdiocese of Huambo is a Latin Metropolitan archdiocese of the Roman Catholic Church in western Angola.
The Luanda Railway is a 424 km (263 mi) single-track Cape gauge railway line from the Angolan capital of Luanda to Malanje. A branch line departs the railway at Zenza do Itombe for Dondo. The line is operated by the state owned company Caminho de Ferro de Luanda E.P., short CFL EP.
Railway stations in Angola include:
Angola is located on the western Atlantic Coast of Southern Africa between Namibia and the Republic of the Congo. It also is bordered by the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Zambia to the east. The country consists of a sparsely watered and somewhat sterile coastal plain extending inland for a distance varying from 50 to 160 km. Slightly inland and parallel to the coast is a belt of hills and mountains and behind those a large plateau. The total land size is 1,246,700 km2 (481,400 sq mi). It has an Exclusive Economic Zone of 518,433 km2 (200,168 sq mi).
Cuilo is a town and municipality in Lunda Norte Province in Angola. The municipality had a population of 21,004 in 2014.
The Moçâmedes Railway is an 860 km railway line in Angola, between Moçâmedes and Menongue. The line is operated by the company Caminhos de Ferro de Moçâmedes E.P. The port city of Moçâmedes was renamed Namibe between 1985 and 2016, so the railway was sometimes called the Namibe Railway. However, the railway company retained its original legal name.
Portuguese Angola refers to Angola during the historic period when it was a territory under Portuguese rule in southwestern Africa. In the same context, it was known until 1951 as Portuguese West Africa.
The port of Lobito is an Angolan port located in the city of Lobito, in the province of Benguela. It is connected to the commercial area of the city and the neighborhood of Canata. It is located in Lobito Bay, which is separated from the Atlantic Ocean by the Lobito Peninsula.
The port of Namibe, or port of Moçâmedes, is an Angolan port located in the city of Moçâmedes, in the province of Namibe. It is built on the banks of the bay of Namibe, a coastal indentation linked to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Empresa do Caminho de Ferro de Benguela-E.P. is an Angolan state-owned company responsible for the administration of the Angolan stretch of the Benguela Railway. The company's headquarters are in the city of Lobito.
Luanda Bungo Railway Station is the main railway station in the Angolan capital of Luanda. The station is located in the Ingombota District of Luanda. It was inaugurated in 1889, along with the first 45-kilometer section of the Ambaca Railway. The station building was classified as Historical and Cultural Heritage site of Angola in 2001. The name comes from the word "Mbungo", which in Kimbundu means "horn", which is a descriptor of the topography of the city from 1846 with trains making a roundabout motion from the interior to the coastline around a large hill on the northern edge of the city center.
The 95 km. extension of the Mocamedes Railway from Cuchi to Serpa Pinto was inaugurated in December 1961. The railway, which uses the gauge of 3' 6", now has a total length of 754 km.
The Mocamedes Railway extends only as far as Menongue (former Serpa Pinto), but could be extended to Zambia.
Media related to Rail transport in Angola at Wikimedia Commons
