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India’s RITES delivers two more locomotives to Mozambique’s CFM
3:25 CAT | 15 Sep 2025
Photo: Ministério dos Transportes e Logística de Moçambique
India’s state-owned company Rail India Technical and Economic Service (RITES) has delivered two more locomotives to the Mozambique Ports and Railways (CFM), the Mozambican government has announced.
“These locomotives are (…) proof that we are investing in a modern, efficient, competitive rail-port system, ready to serve the national economy and the region,” declared Minister of Transport and Logistics João Matlombe at the handover.
CFM received the locomotives, two of a total of 10 that RITES is expected to deliver in a deal worth US$37.68 million (€32.5 million), in Maputo on Friday.
“Mozambique has an advantage we cannot afford to waste: the strategic location of our ports and railways. If we know how to leverage this with consistent investment and efficient management, we will be the natural logistics solution for Southern Africa,” Matlombe declared.
The Chairman of the CFM Board of Directors said that the locomotives would meet a demand driven primarily by the South African and Zimbabwean transportation markets.
“With the opening of the South African system to private rail operators, significant pressure is expected, particularly for this southern region, with increased freight supply in Komatipoort [in neighbouring South Africa], which means that CFM must be prepared, with its own resources, to meet this demand,” said Agostinho Langa.
In November 2023, RITES announced to the Indian stock exchange that the contract for the supply of 10 diesel-electric locomotives “was awarded” to RITES, which submitted the “lowest bid” among the competitors.
The same note stated that RITES also competed for the supply of 300 railcars to CFM, with the Mozambican state-owned company reporting that the contract was awarded to another competitor, without disclosing further details.
The Mozambican government is acquiring new railcars to strengthen rail transportation in the country, forecasting a 26.6% increase in traffic this year, according to data compiled in May by Lusa from the budget proposal.
According to the proposed Economic and Social Plan and State Budget (PESOE) for 2025, the expected traffic growth is justified “by the increase in passenger flow, linked to the investments made in the acquisition of more than 750 railcars”.
This growth is further justified by “the expected increase in freight traffic in 2025, with the full operation of the rehabilitated and expanded Ressano Garcia (double-track), Matola Gare-Moamba, and Machipanda railway lines, which will enable connections between the Southern and Central Ports, thus ensuring greater capacity and responsiveness to the demand for rail freight transportation,” according to the government document.
The government announced in late April that it intends by 2030 to have invested nearly €190 million in the expansion of railway lines and the acquisition of carriages, locomotives, and wagons to increase passenger and freight transport capacity.
The government added that it intends to complete the expansion of the remaining 25 kilometres of the Ressano Garcia railway line in Maputo, which connects Mozambique and South Africa, and also in the acquisition of more than 30 carriages to increase passenger transport capacity.
For the same amount, the Mozambican government plans to acquire 250 railcars by 2030 to meet the growing demand for mineral transportation and the purchase of at least 15 locomotives.
State-owned CFM’s operating profits rose 55% in 2024, reaching nearly 2.52 billion meticais (€34.7 million), and more than seven million passengers were transported, the company’s management recently announced-
Source: Lusa
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