Railway to Lichinga operational again

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Railway to Lichinga operational again

7:38 CAT | 07 Nov 2016

Domingo

Mozambican President Filipe Nyusi on Thursday officially re-inaugurated the 262 kilometre long railway from Cuamba to Lichinga, the two main towns in the northernmost province of Niassa.

This is a spur off the northern rail corridor that runs from the port of Nacala to Entre-Lagos on the border with Malawi. During the war of destabilization the line could not be used, and even after the end of the war, in 1992, repeated promises to make the line fully operational again came to nothing.

Trains ran sporadically on the line, but the state of this railway was so poor that, even in the dry season, a journey between Cuamba and Lichinga could take three days. In 2010 the Northern Development Corridor (CDN), the company to which the entire northern rail system had been leased, suspended rail traffic to Lichinga.

Full rehabilitation of the line began in 2014. The ballast has been completely renewed and the old timber sleepers have been replaced by more durable concrete sleepers. The lightweight rails have also been replaced, and the heavier rails (weighing 40 kilos per metre, rather than 30) ensure that trains can run at faster speeds, up to 50 kilometres an hour, without risking derailment.

According to CDN spokesperson Sergio Paunde, the reconstruction of the line cost about 100 million US dollars, paid for by the CDN shareholders.

Paunde said that not only can trains run faster along the line, but it can now bear longer and heavier trains. In the past, trains to Lichinga could contain no more than 10 wagons, but the number will now increase to 24. The new track can bear weights of 16 tonnes per axle, which gives CDN hope that the line can handle two million tonnes of cargo a year.

The line will carry both goods and passenger trains. Paunde said the first passenger train will leave next Saturday, returning on Sunday. The return fare will be 160 meticais (about 2.1 US dollars, at current exchange rates), which is much cheaper than travelling by road (the current Cuamba-Lichinga bus fare is 600 meticais).

Reopening the railway should cut the cost of living in Lichinga dramatically. Trains from Nacala will bring fuel, cement and other building materials, as well as basic foodstuffs and other consumer goods. Since using the railway is much cheaper than sending trucks along the poor roads in Niassa, prices in Lichinga shops should tumble. One estimate is that some prices could fall by 60 per cent.

Paunde expected the railway to stimulate agricultural production in Niassa. The province is very fertile, but until now farmers have had no reliable means of moving their surplus crops to the rest of the country. With the railway, maize, beans, potatoes and other bulky agricultural produce can be moved cheaply to Cuamba, and then on to Nampula and Nacala.

In initially, there will be two goods and two passenger trains a week in each direction – but, depending on demand, this frequency can be increased.