Railways Africa

The giant Brazilian mining group Vale arrived in Mozambique in 2004 were told by the government that the Sena railway to the sea at Beira, inoperable since 1983 due to the civil war, was to be rebuilt immediately. The capacity to move six million tons of coal annually was promised. Backed by a $US110 million [...]

Following heavy rains in mid-February in Mozambique, serious railway washaways resulted in an embargo on coal traffic from Moatize, destined via the Sena Line to the port of Beira. The prominent Brazilian Vale mining company said the declaration of force majeure affected the shipment of about 500,000 metric tons of coal. The Sena Line is [...]

On 1 February, the Nachicuva River in Northern Mozambique burst its banks following torrential rains. The Nacala-Malawi main-line was cut at Monapo, where a 70 metre section of embankment was swept away, leaving the track hanging in mid-air. Major repair work, including the building of a temporary timber bridge, has been completed and the line [...]

On 6 February, Caminhos de ferro do Moçambique (CFM – the state railway & harbours) signed an agreement with the Brazilian mining giant Vale in respect of the rail corridor from Moatize, in the western province of Tete, to the northern port of Nacala. The agreement defines the operational model to be used and the [...]

Efficient and cost-effective rail links are the key to the ports of Maputo and Matola contributing fully to regional economic growth, says Maputo Port Development Company (MPDC) chief operating officer Gerhard Botha. Reporting this, FTW points out that Maputo ships ferrochrome and chrome ore from Zimbabwe, Steelpoort and Lydenburg; coal from Hwangwe, Botswana, the Waterberg [...]

Throughput at the coal terminal in Matola, adjoining Maputo in Mozambique – currently of the order of 6 million tons annually – mainly comprises consignments from South Africa. The operator, South Africa’s Grindrod, has plans to increase the capacity to 7mta in 2013 and to 20 mta in the longer term. This will enable the [...]

Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (CFM) chairman Rosário Mualeia says an “independent operator” is to be set up in 2013 to manage all the railways in the country, though prices and policy will be the province of a state regulator. Tenders are to be called soon for constructing an entirely new 525km line from the [...]

According to a communiqué from Agençia de Informaçao de Moçambique (AIM), the World Bank admits to being partly to blame for rehabilitation shortcomings on the railways emanating from the port of Beira. A project initiated in 2003 was intended to completely rehabilitate both the Sena line (Beira to Moatize) and the Machipanda line from Beira [...]

Multi-disciplinary engineering company Gibb is currently undertaking work for Talbot Group Investments, owners of the Minas de Revuboe Mine, in Tete, Mozambique. “Our scope of work includes project management, topographical survey, railway infrastructure as well as rolling stock studies,” general manager of Gibb’s transportation group Johann Rauch explains.

The Southern African Railway Association (Sara) held a three-day conference and exhibition in Maputo from 6 November with the theme “Promoting full road, rail and port integration in southern Africa”. An important concern raised was the diminishing role played by rail on the sub-continent. According to Sara executive director Bernard Dzawanda, the situation is very [...]