According to Lobito Atlantic Railway (LAR), the derailment of a train carrying sulphur to the Democratic Republic of Congo occurred at around 4:50 am, at kilometre 853 between the stations of Cavimbe and Cangumbe, in the province of Moxico.
The accident caused slight damage to 400 metres of the track, in an area already damaged by a previous derailment of a Benguela Railway (CFB) passenger train.
LAR said that it has already begun repair and reinforcement work on the affected stretch, which will continue over the next four days, "requiring temporary adjustments to the CFB passenger service timetables" to "correct the damage caused by these two derailments".
Priority will be given to passenger and fuel trains, and only then will trains carrying other goods resume.
"At this time, LAR teams are working six hours a day to restore the track's operational capacity within the estimated time and ensure the safe transportation of people and goods," the press release adds.
Last month, the concessionaire for the Lobito Corridor began transporting sulphur from the Port of Lobito to the Democratic Republic of Congo, to support mining activities in the Katanga region.
The LAR consortium, made up of Trafigura, Mota-Engil and Vecturis, was awarded the concession in 2022 for the operation, management and maintenance of the Lobito railway corridor, which runs through Angola to the African copper belt, and the mining terminal at the port of Lobito, for a period of 30 years.
The project to rehabilitate this logistics corridor is supported by the governments of Angola, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Zambia and the Partnership for Global Infrastructure Investment (PGII) of the US Government and the European Union.
LAR has around 700 employees divided between the company's management and railway and port operations, mostly from CFB - Benguela Railways and the port of Lobito, and their number is expected to increase "significantly as a result of the concessionaire's increased activity".
In the coming years, an investment of around 450 million dollars is planned, through financing from the United States' International Development Financial Cooperation (DFC), which is in the final stages of validation, to increase the modernisation and efficiency of the Lobito Corridor.
