3 July 2009
Maputo — Emergency work on the Sena rail line in the central Mozambican province of Sofala, following a major derailment on 23 June, have been concluded, much earlier than initially expected, reports Friday's issue of the Maputo daily "Noticias".
The derailment, which killed seven workers of the Beira Railroad Company (CFFB), which operates the entire central Mozambican rail system, occurred as a service train was approaching the bridge over the Chitsadze river, and its braking system apparently failed.
The locomotive and 19 wagons came off the rails. They were carrying cement, fuel, rails, concrete sleepers and rails, to be used in the reconstruction of the final 150 kilometres of the Sena line, in Tete province.
It was feared that traffic along the line would be interrupted for a month, but in fact the emergency repairs took less than ten days, and trains are once again driving along this stretch of the line, albeit with extreme care, while the definitive repairs are undertaken..
A large crane was mobilized from the neighbouring province of Manica, and 150 workers involved in rebuilding the Sena line were diverted to the task of removing the fallen wagons and restoring the damaged track.
According to the Executive Director of the Sena Line Reconstruction Brigade, Candido Jone, about 600 metres of track are still in a critical condition, and trains can only move slowly and with great caution. The bridge suffered damage in the derailment and is now being shored up with wooden pillars.
All trains must stop when they approach this area, and can only proceed when they receive authorisation and at a speed no faster than 20 kilometres an hour. The trains using the line are goods trains, but Jone promised that the passenger service between Beira and Marromeu, on the south bank of the Zambezi would resume later this week.
To ascertain the causes of the derailment, two commission of inquiry have been set up which must report back within a fortnight.
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