Luanda Railway | |||
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Malanje station
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Overview | |||
Locale | Northwestern Angola | ||
Termini |
Luanda Malanje |
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Technical | |||
Line length | 424 km (263 mi) | ||
Track gauge | 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) | ||
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CFL Luanda Bungo - Malanje | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Luanda Railway (sometimes called Angola Railway) is a 424 km single-track Cape gauge railway line from the Angolan capital of Luanda to Malanje. A branch line departs the railway at Zenza do Itombe for Dondo. The line is operated by the state owned company Caminho de Ferro de Luanda E.P., short CFL EP.
From its terminal at the Atlantic port of Luanda, the railway heads inland towards Eastern Angola, but ends in the middle of the country at Malanje. A branch line departed the railway at Zenza do Itombe for Dondo.
The coastal segment from Luanda to Lucala was built by a Portuguese company in 1889. The line was then extended to Malanje in 1909 by the Portuguese government. After independence from Portugal in 1975, the Angolan civil war broke out. The prolonged fighting lasted until 2002 and destroyed most of the railway infrastructure in Angola.
In 2005, a $355 million rehabilitation project was begun by the China Railway 20 Bureau Group, with funding from the China International Fund. A total of 215 km of rails were rehabilitated, and another 264 km of new rails were laid. The project included the construction of 16 stations, 16 bridges, and 200 culverts.
In 2010, a passenger service resumed between Luanda and Malanje; Angola's Deputy Minister of Transport, José João Kuvingwa suggested that full operation could resume in 2011. In July 2010, a twice-weekly freight service began, between Dondo and Luanda. In November 2010, CFL announced hourly passenger trains between Viana and Textang; in December 2010, container services commenced, serving a dry port near Viana, and in January 2011 the first train reached Malanje.