The Benguela Railway (CFB), a public company responsible for railway operations in central and eastern Angola, invested nearly $2 million in the purchase of wheels for 50 carriages, imported from South Africa. The information was released on Thursday, February 5, by the company’s chairman of the board of directors, António Cabral.
The executive was speaking to the press on the sidelines of the High-Level Meeting on the Lobito Corridor Coordination Mechanism (Engine Room), a meeting promoted by the Angolan government in partnership with the World Bank (WB). The Lobito Corridor is a railway and logistics hub connecting the Port of Lobito, on Angola’s Atlantic coast, to the country’s interior regions and neighboring countries in Central and Southern Africa.
According to António Cabral, in addition to the acquisition of new rolling stock, CFB is also carrying out repair and rehabilitation work on old carriages, in operation since 2011. These interventions aim to ensure the continuous improvement of the quality of passenger and freight rail transport.
The company’s CEO also revealed that, in 2025, CFB transported 1.6 million passengers along the Lobito Corridor, representing a 26% increase compared to 2024. According to António Cabral, the indicators are expected to continue to improve in the coming years, supported by the enhancement of the quality of services provided to the population.
During the same period, the importation of 200 wheelsets for carriages was completed. At the same time, CFB received half of the 48 wheelsets planned for locomotives, a process that, according to the manager, is taking place in phases.
António Cabral emphasized that these investments are a direct result of the concession of railway and logistics services for the Lobito Corridor, a structural project that allows CFB to ensure the maintenance, modernization, and sustainability of rolling stock.
“The amounts we are receiving, both from variable and fixed rents from the concession project, as well as from the concession premium, are being used for the maintenance and refurbishment of the carriages,” said the CEO.
The CFB is the main railway infrastructure in the Lobito Corridor, stretching for around 1,300 kilometers from the Port of Lobito in Angola to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The railway line serves the Congolese mining regions and there are also plans to extend it to Zambia, strengthening regional integration and the flow of mineral products to international markets.
Source: Lusa
