Mozambique: Passenger rail traffic halted on Sena line following vandalism – operator

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Mozambique: Passenger rail traffic halted on Sena line following vandalism – operator

12:22 CAT | 06 Nov 2025

File photo: TVM

The Mozambique railway operator, CFM, has decided to suspend passenger train services in te Sena line or safety reasons, following a derailment on Sunday that is being investigated by the police, who suspect former employees.

“Passenger trains are cancelled until the safety situation is restored,” Adélio Dias, spokesman for the public company Portos e Caminhos de Ferro (Ports and Railways) de Mozambique (CFM), told Lusa on Wednesday, without giving any deadlines.

At issue is the vandalism of part of a railway line that caused a freight train to derail in the early hours of Sunday morning in Sofala province, the second such incident in a few weeks.

The provincial commander of the Police of the Republic of Mozambique in Sofala, Beatriz Tichala, assured yesterday that investigations are underway to identify those responsible for the vandalism of the line.

“Suspicions fall on workers who, at some point, are dissatisfied with their employers. [The workers] who participated in the construction of the railway line,” she explained during the ceremonies commemorating Legality Day in Sofala.

In a statement, which Lusa had access to yesterday, CFM explains that, in this latest incident, the individuals cut the line and removed the brackets used to secure the line to the sleepers, damaging two locomotives and several carriages.

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‘CFM condemns and deeply regrets the attitude of this group of fellow citizens, who aimed to hit the passenger train,’ the document adds.

CFM’s southern railway network also suffered losses of US$2 million (€1.6 million) this year due to theft and vandalism of infrastructure, the company announced in September.

Speaking to journalists on the sidelines of the Forum on Preventing and Combating Vandalism of Public Infrastructure, Arnaldo Manjate, director of railway operations at CFM-Sul, said that this year alone, equipment was stolen and railway devices vandalised, including track switches, costing the company around five million meticais (around €66,000), including due to stones being thrown at locomotives.

The Mozambican railway network is divided into three zones, south, centre and north, which are not directly connected but which in turn connect to several neighbouring countries, such as South Africa, Eswatini and Zimbabwe.

In 2024, CFM trains carried 6,815,251 passengers in the central and southern systems, almost half a million more than the company had predicted, according to official data, and 3% above the 2023 figure, according to company data.

The Mozambican government announced at the end of April that it intends to invest almost €190 million by 2030 in the duplication of railway lines and the acquisition of carriages, locomotives and wagons to strengthen passenger and freight transport capacity.

The executive said it wants to invest the money in completing the doubling 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 strengthen passenger transport capacity.

For the same amount, the Mozambique government intends to purchase 250 wagons by 2030 to meet the growing demand for mineral transport and to purchase at least 15 locomotives.

The operating results of the state-owned CFM rose 55% in 2024 to almost 2.52 billion meticais (€34.7 million), and more than seven million passengers were transported, the management announced earlier.

Source: Lusa