The rehabilitation of the Benguela railway that traverses Angola has been completed by a Chinese company. The railway is expected to resume operation and traffic by the end of this year.
The 1,344-kilometer long railway lies in the middle of Angola. It connects Angola’s Atlantic port of Lobito, to its eastern border town of Luao, and to the rail networks of the south-eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, Zambia and beyond. There are 67 stations along the railway.
It was first built by the Portuguese in 1929, but was later destroyed during a 27-year civil war. In 2007 China’s Railway Construction Company won the bid to repair the railway. Angola’s railway officials say the reopened Benguela railway will help accelerate economic development of Angola as well as the entire south Africa region.