Mozambique Railways (CFM) will resume transporting coal from South Africa to the port of Matola after a 20-year interruption, a CFM source has said.
Coal transport from South Africa to Matola Port using CFM locomotives was halted in 1998 because of lack of resources, CFM spokesman Adélio Dias explained.
Over the last two decades, operations were conducted by South African operator Transnet Rail Freight.
With the resumption of CFM services this Friday, the company predicts that the number of trains carrying coal to the ports of Maputo and Matola will increase from four to seven per day, carrying about 21,000 tons of coal per day on the Ressano Garcia line connecting Mozambique and South Africa.
Rehabilitation of the 88-kilometre line is under way to ensure it can carry the increased traffic. Two bridges are to be rebuilt and sleepers replaced along a 24-kilometre section.
The company’s forecasts that CFM will transport about seven million tons along the Ressano Garcia line annually, increasing revenues.
Source: Lusa
