本格拉铁路运输前景可期——专访本格拉铁路公司董事会主席路易斯·洛佩兹·特涉伊拉（Luís Lopes Teixeira）

英文版

Promising Prospects of Benguela Railway Transport

——Interview with  Luís Lopes Company Chairman Of Teixeira Benjamin Railway

By ZhangMei  China Investment  Translator: Zhang Yibo

On July 30th, the “African pride” train was slowly docked at the Lombarto station of the Benguela railway in Angola. This is the first time that the railways linking Tanzania, Zambia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola have completed the inter-connected train travel. Recently, the Benguela Railway, built by Chinese companies, will be officially handed over to the Angolan government. In September, "China Investment" on the operation of the Benguela Railway, the role of promoting the country's economic development, improving people's lives, and the Congo (Golden) freight transport plan, and Benjamin Railways Chairman Luis Lopez Mr. Luís Lopes Teixeira had a conversation.

China Investment: What is the status of the benguela railway after its completion? What about the quantity of passengers and freight ?What are the estimates of future operations? What is the investment and financing status of railway?

Luís Lopes Teixeira：The Benguela Railway is an overhaul project, and the China Railway 20  Bureau Group Corporation guarantees its segmental operation while construction. In July 2017, the Benguela Railway was temporarily handed over and officially started to operate in full line. In 2018, according to the Benguela  Railway Bureau statistics, the annual passenger traffic was 1.12 million passengers and the cargo volume was 92000 tons. In March 2018, the influence of Benguela Railway is gradually improving with the start of international freight transportation of ore and other goods from the democratic republic of Congo (DRC). Many customers begin to pay attention to Benguela Railway and look forward to the freight transportation prospect of Benguela Railway, believing that the freight volume of Benguela Railway will increase rapidly. In July 2019, with the arrival of South Africa’s “pride of Africa” luxury tourist train in Lobito, Angola, it is believed that it will also drive the rapid development of tourism in Angola and neighboring countries.
The construction funds in the early period of the Benguela Railway mainly relied on Chinese loans to complete the construction work. In order to ensure the normal operation of the railway, a large amount of funds are needed for the maintenance and repair work during the operation of the railway. At present, the government lacks such funds.

China Investment: As a transportation corridor in Angola, what changes has Benguela Railway brought to the lives of local people and local economy?

Luís Lopes Teixeira: The Benguela Railway is an east-west trend that runs through the whole territory of Angola from west to east. Since the railway built, great changes have been brought to the local economic development and transportation in Angola. Especially for the residents of Moxico province inland, the railway has become their most important mode of transportation, and it is also the most important transportation route for fuel, seafood, food, living materials, timber and building materials and so on. Without the railway, travel and daily life of local residents will be severely affected, and prices in inland provinces will rise rapidly. At the same time, international ore transport operations will be disrupted, which will bring great losses to Angola.

China Investment: From the completion of the Benguela Railway to the realization of trans-Africa, the railway has achieved cross-border transportation. What are the practical problems facing it? For example, the problem of different gauges of different road sections, the distribution of charges for railway systems in various countries in the future, and how to coordinate the cooperation of customs systems. How to overcome these difficulties?

Luís Lopes Teixeira：With the completion of the Benguela Railway, international ore transport trains and multinational tourist trains have opened up, bringing opportunities for development in Angola and its neighboring countries, as well as many practical problems, such as: The railway in Congo (DRC), Zambia, Mozambique has been in disrepair for a long time, the facilities are aging seriously, and it is urgent to rebuild and upgrade. Otherwise, it is difficult to meet the growing demand for passenger and cargo transportation, and there are also great transportation safety risks. How to settle and allocate cross-border transportation costs and how to realize customs supervision and cooperation among countries still need full communication and consultation among countries. At present, cooperation in this field has been carried out between Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), and the progress is relatively smooth.

⬆AT-Moxico-Railstation

China Investment: It is learned that Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have achieved combined freight transport. What is the current operation? What are the plans for the future? What else needs to be done?

Luís Lopes Teixeira：After the Benguela Railway was put into operation, the Ministry of Transport of Angola and the Ministry of Transport of the Republic of the Congo (DRC) had active communication and reached the intention of cooperation. On March 5, 2018, the first ore transport train entered the Luao station in Angola from the Congo (Golden) territory. Customs officers at both sides handled the handover procedure at Luao Station and replaced the traction locomotive. On March 7th, the international freight train arrived at the port of Lobito smoothly, and the ore transport train gradually increased. At present, materials transported by Benguela Railway mainly include manganese ore, copper ore (including semi-finished products), cobalt ore, steel, cement and other materials. Future to improve international freight traffic, a lot of work need to be done, such as: maintenance and upgrade of railways, support and investment of funds, large investment of locomotives and vehicles required for railway materials transportation, improvement of railway transportation organization system, and improvement of safety. A series of tasks such as management ability and level, training and equipment for railway vocational skills workers must be done.