Benguela railway

The Benguela railway (Portuguese: Caminho de Ferro de Benguela (CFB)) connects the Atlantic port of Lobito, Angola, to the eastern border town of Luau. At the border, it connects to a branch of the Katanga Railway, providing access to the Copperbelts of Congo and Zambia.

Specifications

The railway is Cape gauge, 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in), which is used by most mainline railways in southern Africa. The maximum design speed is 90 km per hour. The design capacity is 20 million tons of cargo and 4 million passengers per year. There are 67 stations and 42 bridges along the route of the railway.

The highest point on the railway is 6,082 feet.

Equipment

Locomotives

History

The railway line roughly follows old trade routes between the ancient trading centre of Benguela and its hinterland of the Bié plateau. In 1899, the Portuguese government initiated the construction of the railway to give access to the central Angolan plateau and the mineral wealth of the then Congo Free State. A concession, running for 99 years, was granted to Sir Robert Williams on 28 November 1902. His Benguela Railway Company took over the construction which commenced on 1 March 1903. Messrs Pauling & Co. and Messrs Griffiths & Co were contracted to build sections of the railway. By 1914 when World War I started, 500 kilometres (310 mi) had been completed. Construction was halted until 1920 after which the railway's connection to Luau at the border to the Belgian Congo was completed in 1929. The primary purpose was the export trade and the "domestic Angolan traffic would be of secondary importance."

Benguela

Benguela (Portuguese pronunciation: [bẽˈɡɛlɐ], São Felipe de Benguela, formerly spelled Benguella) is a city in western Angola, south of Luanda, and capital of Benguela Province. It lies on a bay of the same name, in 12° 33’ S., 13° 25’ E. Benguela is one of Angola's most populous cities.

History

Portuguese rule

Benguela, a Portuguese fort from 1587, was founded in 1617 by the Portuguese under Manuel Cerveira Pereira, 8th Governor of Angola (1604–1607). It was long the centre of an important trade, especially in slaves to Brazil and Cuba. Ships anchored about 1.6 kilometres (1 mi) off the shore, in depths of 7 to 11 metres (23 to 36 ft) and transferred loads to smaller boats which used five or six jetties in the town. However the nearby deep-water sheltered harbour of Lobito was a much larger port.

Besides the churches of S. Felipe and S. António, the hospital, and the fortress, there were, as of 1911, only a few stone-built houses. A short way beyond Benguela is Baía Farta, where salt was manufactured and sulphur was extracted. Close to Baia Farta was the beach of Baia Azul. The city prospered and grew in the following decades. The Benguela Railway was built in the early 20th century by Portugal to connect the city and Lobito to the interior, and it achieved great success when linked to the Copperbelt of Katanga, DR Congo and Zambia. Starting in the early 20th century, Benguela attracted, developed, and retained quality businesses and professionals into its thriving and growing economy. Sisal and fishing industries expanded and the financial, construction and services market boomed until 1974.

Benguela (disambiguation)

Benguela may refer to:

Benguela Province

Benguela is a province of Angola, situated in the west of the country. It lies on the Atlantic Ocean, and borders the provinces of Cuanza Sul, Namibe, Huila, and Huambo. The province has an area of 39,826 square kilometres (15,377 sq mi) and its capital is Benguela. According to 1988 US government statistics, the population had 297,700 urban inhabitants and 308,800 rural inhabitants, with an estimated total provincial population of 606,500. The current governor of Benguela is Isaac dos Anjos.

History

The Portuguese crown created the Kingdom of Benguela in 1615 to improve the conditions to develop the desired land route to Mozambique across Africa. The trading post founded here did not meet the expectations of the Portuguese in mineral resources and soil quality, so a village was only established for the slave trade, under the name of Mbaka.

With the era of imperialist efforts of European countries to acquire colonies in Africa, at the end of the 19th century, Portugal increased its presence in the region in order to protect them from the advances of the German Empire and other states. Even before the Berlin Congo Conference in 1884–85, when European powers divided up the African colonial territories among themselves, Portugal had strengthened its colonial administration as early as 1869, and divided the three districts of Luanda, Benguela and Moçâmedes (now Namibe). From 1903, the Benguela Railway was built connecting the port of Lobito to Belgian Congo, which led to the growing importance of the port and industries emerged, particularly the processing of sisal fiber, which contributed to the development of district of Benguela. By 1912, the Benguela Railway had reached Huambo from Lobito, and the line was eventually completed in 1929. Mostly after 1938, Benguela city's rubber and ivory trade made it a "relevant commercial warehouse".