Rail transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Routes

• Matadi-Kinshasa Railway: From Matadi Harbour to Kinshasa via Songolo, Kimpese, Mbanza-Ngungu and Kasangulu, operated by ONATRA, gauge, originally constructed as gauge; three trains a week. * In 1928, Congo and Angola did a land exchange to facilitate the new route of the railway to Kinshasa. This line is a bypass of the Livingstone Falls on the Congo River, known as a portage railway. Upstream from the Kinshasa river port, water transport reaches about two-thirds of the country. The line lost traffic to road transport when the Matadi-Kinshasa road was re-established in 2000, and it is now planned to revitalize it with Chinese help. An agreement was signed in July 2006 between ONATRA and a Chinese company which will renovate the track, trains, telecommunications, signal system and electric supply. The line reopened in September 2015 after around a decade without regular service. As of April 2016 there was one passenger trip per week along the line and more frequent service was planned.
• Vicicongo line: Bumba - Aketi - Buta - Likati - Isiro - Mungbere, with branch lines to Bondo and Titule; narrow gauge. The line was opened by Chemins de Fer Vicicongo in 1923 and is 1235 km long.
• Great lakes line first section: Kisangani to Ubundu,. This line is a bypass of the Stanley Falls on the Congo River. A train runs after arrival at Kisangani of a ship from Kinshasa or before departure of a ship to Kinshasa, which may happen about every 2 to 3 month, no fixed schedule. There is no connecting boat service between Ubundu and Kindu on the Lualaba River.
• Great lakes line second section: Kindu - Kibombo – Kongolo – Kabalo - Nyunzu – Niemba – Kalemie,. This line was gauge like the first section until 1955, when the gauge was changed for the connection with the Katanga line in 1956. Just north of Kongolo, the Lualaba is unnavigable due to the rapids named Portes D'Enfer. The track between Kalemie and Niemba is described by UNJLC in 2006 as 'very degraded' and may not be operational. Boats to Moba and Kalundu-Uvira on Lake Tanganyika used to connect with trains at Kalemie. In 1917 a train ferry was introduced on the lake operating from Kalemie, but is long gone.
• Katanga line: Kabalo – Kamungu - Katumba – Kabongo – Kamina - Bukama – Tenke - Likasi – Lubumbashi - Sakania - Zambia,. There are a number of short branch lines in the mining areas between Tenke and Kolwezi. The section from near Kabongo to Kamina was described by UNJLC in 2006 as 'very degraded'. Kamina - Lubumbashi section will be use track gauge in July 2019 and fully electrified.
• Kasai line: Ilebo – Kananga – Mwene Ditu – Kaniama - Kamina,. This connects the Katanga line to the river port at Ilebo from where boats can reach Kinshasa. Freight is transferred to river barges, but in 2006 UNJLC reports the river service operates sporadically. On 1 August 2007 a passenger train ran out of control on the line 170 km north-west of Kananga and 7 coaches overturned, killing about 100 people.
• Katanga-Benguela line: A branch of the Katanga Railway was built from Tenke junction just north-west of Likasi via Kolwezi to Dilolo at the Angolan border to connect with the Benguela Railway from Luau to the Atlantic port of Lobito. This allowed through passenger trains to run between Lubumbashi and Lobito, and freight trains to carry copper from the Zambian and Katangan Copperbelts to a seaport for the export of copper. It was this purpose which provided the investment for the Benguela Railway. It did not operate through Angola from the 1970s, due to the civil war there. The line between Kolwezi and Dilolo was described by UNJLC in 2006 as 'very degraded'. It reopened in 2018.

• Mayumbe line: Boma to Tshela, 1889–1984, gauge, 137 km long and opened in stages from 1901 to 1913. removed in 1984.
• Kivu Railway: Kalundu-Uvira-Kamaniola, 1931–1958,.
• Forminière railway 1923-1955 Followed the river Kasai from Charlesville to Makumbi.

  Track totals

• 3621 km gauge ;
• 3987 km gauge ;
• 125 km gauge; ev. transformed to gauge in 1955
• 1026 km gauge ;

  Railway links to adjacent countries

• Zambia - yes - same gauge -, connects with railways of Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa.

• Angola - yes - same gauge -. The link to the ports of Benguela and Lobito was unusable from the 1970s, but has been rehabilitated. The Angolan transport minister Augusto Tomás promised the reconstruction up to the border station at Luau in Moxico province by the end of 2012. The focus was then be on the line from Dilolo to Kolwezi. The line reopened in 2018.
• In 2012, Angola started plans for a line from Luanda via the Matadi Bridge to the enclave of Cabinda province which necessarily crosses Congo territory, with a junction with Congo's Matadi-Kinshasa Railway.

• Republic of Congo - no direct link, but ordinary ferries across the Congo River from Kinshasa to Brazzaville can take passengers and freight to the Congo-Ocean Railway which runs from Brazzaville to the Atlantic port of Pointe Noire.
• Tanzania - no direct link but boats take freight between Kalemie and Kigoma, from where Tanzania's Central Line runs to the seaport of Dar es Salaam; there once was a train ferry from Kalemie built in 1917; break of gauge /.

• South Sudan - no - same gauge
• Uganda - no - break of gauge /.

Proposed rail projects

• In September 2007 it was reported that China would provide US$5 billion for new infrastructure projects including rehabilitation and construction of new sections to link Sakania and Lubumbashi to Matadi, to be completed in 3 years.
• A line from Uganda to Kasese was proposed in 2005.
• In 2012, a new or rehabilitated gauge line was proposed from Kisangani to the port of Lamu in Kenya.
• In 2019, the SNCC reached a $500 million agreement with Russian Railways for the company to help upgrade the DRC's railway system.

  Criticism

Locomotives

Gallery

Maps

• Stations served by rail