Northern Development Corridor train destroys property, injures three as it derails into Nampula neighbourhood

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Northern Development Corridor train destroys property, injures three as it derails into Nampula neighbourhood

2:36 CAT | 08 Mar 2016

O País

A train comprising more than ten passenger and freight cars operated by the Northern Development Corridor, a private company co-owned by Vale Mozambique, Mitsui and senior members of government, and with Frelimo as a shareholder, derailed on the morning of Thursday February 3 in a residential area on the outskirts of Nampula, destroying several homes and injuring three citizens, one of them a minor.

The accident happened at about 11 a.m. when the train, at the time still empty, was maneuvering at a juncture with the Northern Line connecting to Moatize, in Tete, and the port of Nacala, when it apparently failed to brake, and running out of control, derailed, destroying at least nine houses in the neighbourhood of Carrupeia.

José Amade, one of the witnesses, said the train was performing its usual manoeuvres at slow speed, but suddenly jumped the rails. “We cried out, which brought people out of their homes,” he told @Verdade.

“Everything happened very fast. I managed to escape with my children. Whenever there are train manoeuvres, we watch,” another witness said.

At the time of the accident, most of the residents were not at home, avoiding a tragedy. But an old person, an adult and a minor in one of the houses suffered injuries when their shack collapsed. The victims were rescued and taken to a private health facility.

These dwellings are located in an area which until 2001 was a railway company scrap dump. For over a decade, the Northern Line and the site were little used, and it was taken over for informal housing near the city centre.
According to @Verdade, there were contacts between the private company that manages the Northern line and about a hundred residents who occupied the site, but their resettlement never went ahead.

Railway representatives on site said they were carrying out an investigation and would give no reason for the derailment, but it appears that a switch gear failed to lock sufficiently well to prevent the locomotive leaving the track.

Families whose homes were damaged in the accident were housed temporarily at a hotel in the city while the Northern Development Corridor removed the derailed carriages.

The company operating the derailed train is a limited liability company co-owned by the Mozambique Railways (CFM – 49 percent)and the North Corridor Development Corporation (SDCN – 51 percent).

Source: A Verdade