Maputo, 12 Mar (AIM) – A train belonging to Mozambique’s publicly owned Ports and Rail Company (CFM) – which was carrying 43 wagons of coal – derailed on Sunday damaging around 1,000 metres of the railway line.
The derailment took place on the Sena line and halted the movement of people and goods between the Moatize coal basin, in the central province of Tete, and the Port of Beira.
There were no casualties from the derailment, but there was damage to the rolling stock and the line.
CFM has launched repair work so that the railway line may be functioning again as soon as possible.
“Maintenance teams are already on the ground endeavoring to get the line re-opened as soon as possible”, according to a CFM source cited by the independent newsheet “Carta de Moçambique.”
This is the third derailment this year. The first two occurred in the first week of February, on the Ressano Garcia and Goba lines, in the south of the country. On 2 February, a train of 50 freight wagons travelling from the South African border to Maputo derailed, automatically interrupting traffic on the line.
Two days later, on 4 February, a collision between a freight train and a truck obstructed the Goba line, which connects the Port of Maputo and neighboring Eswatini. In the case of the Goba line, the accident occurred at the Beluluane level crossing, affecting rail traffic. There were no human casualties in either of these accidents.
(AIM)
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