In a statement, to which VerAngola had access, the CFB management explained that the supply of services "has decreased considerably" due to technical reasons related to "the accentuated wear and tear" of the equipment, "reducing the safe supply of said services".
However, the CFB added that it already has a contingency plan in place to try to overcome these difficulties.
"To overcome these constraints, the CFB is implementing a contingency plan that will guarantee the repair and replacement of said wheels in a timely manner through the acquisition of new equipment from South Africa", the note reads.
In this sense, the company expects that services will return to normal between October and November of this year, when the first batches of replacement material for the equipment will arrive.
"The normalisation of the supply of suitable seats and the regular frequency of passenger and small volume transport services will be restored between October and November 2024, when the first batches of replacement wheelset material will arrive", the note states.
According to Angop, the CFB will invest three million dollars in the repair and replacement of fifty carriages, via South Africa, with a view to improving services on the route between Lobito and Luena.
António Cabral, chairman of the CFB's Board of Directors (PCA), it is possible that the 50 carriages will be restored by November this year, in order to increase the number of trains on the aforementioned route and vice versa.
After the repairs are completed, according to Angop, each train will have a composition of 10 carriages on the route between Lobito and Luau, connecting Benguela and Moxico, with stops in the provinces of Huambo and Bié.
On Tuesday, the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the CFB and the governor of Moxico, Ernesto Muangala, held a meeting to discuss the company's prospects for finding solutions to the problems that have been worrying citizens.
Quoted in a statement from the Moxico government, António Cabral said that "the problems in Moxico are also a concern for the company, which currently has its supply capacity reduced due to the locomotives that are in disrepair" and that "every effort is being made to resolve the situation as quickly as possible".
At the time, he assured that "by November the situation will be overcome and there will be more supply and a reduction in demand, with the repair of 50 carriages and some new ones that have entered the country".
"We are doing everything we can to provide the necessary comfort to the population", he said, quoted in the statement from the provincial government.
"Before we only had ideas, but now we have money and we are doing it", said the CEO, who, quoted by Angop, informed that due to the wear and tear of the carriages with a useful life of 10 years, the company only has 25 carriages to transport passengers, which is "well below its capacity".
The provincial governor encouraged the company to act to solve the constraints registered, as well as suggesting improvements in the organisational part, especially with regard to the ticket sales procedure in order to avoid overcrowding.
