Luanda - Three thousand freight and passenger trains have been carried out by the Lobito Corridor concession company since the start of operations last January, according to the executive president of Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR) and the Mota-Engil Angola Group, Francisco França.
There are 2,600 passenger trains and 400 freight trains, according to Jornal de Angola, in its Monday edition.
The manager, who spoke online during a round table at “Sika Summit Angola 2024”, said that since the signing of the concession contract, in November 2022, the consortium – made up of the companies LAR, Transfigura and Mota-Engil, carried out a series of investigations, preparatory work to check the line, culminating in the geometric and geotechnical survey in order to prepare in detail the necessary investment of the aforementioned asset.
Currently, he said, maintenance work is taking place on the line, consisting of the placement of ballasts, leveling and geometric realignment of the line, under the responsibility of Mota-Engil, which assumes the role of contractor in the contract lasting 30 years.
At the same time, heavy investment is underway in improving the line itself, which consists of welding the rails, replacing five bridges, repairing and equipping workshops, as well as improvements to the buildings at the 70 stations.
“We used cutting-edge equipment that is already found in Angola. The physical signaling system was not working because much of the equipment was stolen or vandalized, so today the line is operated through navigable communication systems such as VHS radios and telephones”, he said.
He added that it is a virtual system widely used around the world, which makes it possible to fill this gap, that is, the locomotives themselves are equipped with technology that emits signals and “we manage the railway line”.
He made informed that Lobito Atlantic Railway recently launched an international public tender in which 22 companies interested in providing this service supported by satellite and existing fiber optic networks in Angola participate, at a time when it is implementing solar panels and other equipment throughout the stations, in order to supply telecommunications repeater signals with electrical energy.
On the other hand, Francisco França spoke about the transfer of State assets and around 500 workers to the concessionaire, highlighting that this constitutes one of the most important processes that preceded the start of operations.
He explained that the company's organic staff has 800 workers, of which 408 come from Caminhos-de-Ferro de Benguela and 128 from Porto do Lobito.
The Lobito Corridor is a route for people and goods, made up of road and railway infrastructure, that crosses Angola from Lobito to Luau, passing through Kolwesi and Lumbumbashi, in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), entering Zambia through Chingola and it ends in Ndola, where there are rail links to the ports in the Indian Ocean, Dar es Salam (Tanzania), Beira (Mozambique) and Durban (South Africa).
The concession contract, with a duration of 30 years and the possibility of extending for another 20, provides for the construction and operation of two freight terminals to support railway services, one in Lobito and the other in Luau, the management of the ore port on the east bank of Lobito Bay. ACC/VC/DOJ
