The Ports and Railways of Mozambique (CFM) company has announced that it had successfully carried out the first official railway journey from Vila Nova da Fronteira, central Mozambique, to Malawi, with a train transporting material for the reconstruction of the Malawian railway line, reported the state news agency AIM Tuesday.
The cargo of cement, which belongs to the Chinese company CR20 that is responsible for the reconstruction of the Malawian railway line, left the Port of Beira Friday, according to the report.
“The Dona Ana (Beira) – Vila Nova da Fronteira (Tete) railway line has been paralyzed since September 1986, following the 16-year civil war that swept the country,” said the AIM report, quoting Boaventura Mahave, the railway director at CFM.
With the operation of this line, commercial freight trains will be allowed to circulate between the Port of Beira and Malawi. And the passenger trains will follow in the future, in a corporate social responsibility action, read the report.
The railway line is expected to take much of the traffic off the road network between Beira and Malawi and also compete with the rail route linking Malawi to the northern Mozambican port of Nacala.
“With this construction, the line now has a capacity of 20.5 tonnes per axle, against the previous 16.5 tonnes, and the circulation speed will increase from the current 30 km/h to 60 km/h, meaning an increase of capacity to transport 30 million tonnes per year,” said the report.
The construction of the 44 km railway track in Mozambique reportedly cost 30 million U.S. dollars.
