The arrival of locomotive 1501 gives ONATRA an additional freight asset at a time when the government is seeking to strengthen both rail and inland waterway transport. A second locomotive is in the delivery process and five more have been ordered, indicating a broader fleet renewal effort rather than a single-unit acquisition.
The programme also highlights the multimodal role of ONATRA and the wider DRC transport system. Rail and river services are being developed in parallel, with new navigation equipment, passenger vessels and freight capacity intended to improve the movement of goods and people across a country where inland waterways remain a core transport network.
The Democratic Republic of Congo has placed a new ONATRA freight locomotive into its rail fleet as part of a wider government programme to strengthen both railway and inland waterway transport.
President Félix-Antoine Tshisekedi Tshilombo inspected the new locomotive, numbered 1501, in Kinshasa on 25 August 2026 during the launch of a national navigation-marking campaign covering the Congo River and Kasaï River.
The locomotive was acquired for the Office National des Transports (ONATRA) using government funds and is intended for freight operations. Vice-Prime Minister and Minister of Transport, Communications and Opening Up Jean-Pierre Bemba said a second locomotive was in the delivery process and that five additional locomotives had been ordered.
The locomotive acquisition is being pursued alongside efforts to restore and modernise the DRC’s river transport network, which remains an important part of the country’s domestic transport system.
The new navigation campaign will install markers along the Congo and Kasaï waterways to indicate navigable routes and identify hazardous areas. According to the Ministry of Transport, the Régie des Voies Fluviales (RVF) is responsible for an inland waterway network estimated at 25,000 km, of which around 16,000 km is currently classified and categorised.
Two new buoy-laying vessels were placed in service as part of the campaign. Additional equipment includes a multifunction dredger for the RVF to support maintenance and removal of sediment from navigable channels.
ONATRA also received a metal passenger barge with capacity for 98 passengers, manufactured by the RVF, together with a pusher vessel and five boats. The Ministry of Transport has separately acquired four pusher vessels and 20 fast boats.
Bemba said the programme was intended to improve navigation safety and operational capacity while supporting the movement of passengers and freight across the country.
The Presidency linked the programme to a broader revival of both river and railway transport. ONATRA has also recently resumed operation of Kinshasa’s urban passenger train after a 15-year interruption.
For the railway sector, the arrival of locomotive 1501 represents the first unit in a broader fleet programme, with another locomotive still in the delivery process and five more reported as ordered.
