The African debate

What future for rail transport in Africa?

Audio 49:00

Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of Congo (2011) © PHIL MOORE/AFP

By: Alain Foka Follow

1 min

75 dead and 125 injured.

This is the assessment of the railway disaster that occurred on March 10, 2022, in the Democratic Republic of Congo in the province of Lualaba.

This umpteenth rail tragedy revives the debate on the transport of people and goods.

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Of the 100,000 kilometers of early 20th century railways on the continent, only half remain.

How to explain this decline and reverse the curve?

How to revive rail transport, a key sector in the opening up of certain territories and in continental integration?

And with what funding?

With the participation of :

- Malick Kouanda

, Transport Economist, Managing Director of the Railway Heritage Management Company of Burkina Faso (

)

- Jacques Bimai

, Managing Director of the International Railway Works Company (SITRAFER) in Cameroon

- Ghislain Kalwa Chulu

, head of the Haut-Katanga Civil Society Consultation Framework.

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• Transport

On the same subject

DRC: a commission of inquiry to understand the reasons for the train accident

DRC: the toll of the train accident in Katanga increases

DRC: at least sixty dead in a rail accident in Katanga