Benguela Railway Rehabilitation

Objective

Upgraded entirely to Chinese technical standards, the restoration increased maximum train speeds from 30 km/h to 90 km/h, cutting transit times significantly. The massive undertaking required extensive mine clearance and rebuilding 35 bridges.

Description

The Benguela Railway rehabilitation is a major Chinese infrastructure project that restored a 1,344-km route linking Angola's Atlantic port of Lobito to the DR Congo border. Completed by the China Railway 20th Bureau Group (CR20) via a $1.83 billion resource-backed loan, it modernized an old colonial line destroyed during the civil war. The concession was subsequently leased to the Lobito Atlantic Railway who planned a new round of investment into the 2020s.

History

The railway line roughly follows old trade routes between the ancient trading centre of Benguela and its hinterland of the Bié plateau. In 1899, the Portuguese government initiated the construction of the railway to give access to the central Angolan plateau and the mineral wealth of the then Congo Free State. A concession, running for 99 years, was granted to Sir Robert Williams on 28 November 1902. His Benguela Railway Company took over the construction which commenced on 1 March 1903. Messrs Pauling & Co.[and Messrs Griffiths & Co were contracted to build sections of the railway. By 1914, when World War I started, 500 kilometres (310 mi) had been completed. Construction was halted until 1920 after which the railway's connection to Luau at the border to the Belgian Congo was completed in 1929. The primary purpose was to facilitate export trade, while "the domestic Angolan traffic would be of secondary importance (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benguela_railway)

Finance