Maputo — Mozambique's publicly owned Ports and Railway company, CFM, may soon introduce a passenger service, linking Cuamba, in the northern Mozambican province of Niassa, to Liwonde, in southern Malawi.

To this end, studies are under way to determine the profitability of the new route which will not only facilitate the movement of people and goods, but also trade between the two countries.

The conditions for the introduction of passenger transport from Cuamba to Entre-Lagos, on the border, to Liwonde, in Malawi, exist, since the two countries are already connected by rail, with freight trains currently circulating.

According to Miguel Matabel, the Chairperson of the Board of Directors of CFM, in an interview with Radio Mozambique, the circulation of passenger trains on the Nacala-Malawi line is also under study.

However, Matabel stated that the possibility of introducing a passenger train connecting Moatize, in the central Mozambican province of Tete, to Malawi, through the Nacala line, is remote.

In addition to the Nacala corridor that connects Mozambique and Malawi, the railway line that will connect Vila Nova da Fronteira, in Mutarara, in Tete province, to Malawi, work on which was completed on the Mozambican side last year, is also under construction.

Budgeted at 30 million US dollars, from CFM's own funds, the Dona Ana-Vila Nova de Fronteira branch line is part of the Sena railway, the rail backbone of the central region of the country and the Zambezi Valley.

Meanwhile, Malawi is accelerating the reconstruction of the 72 kilometres of the railway line that connects Nsanje to Mutarara.

The two countries intend to resume this year the transport of cargo to Malawi from the central Mozambican Port of Beira.

In the first phase, the cargo trains leaving Beira will go to Marka, in Malawi, where they will unload in the dry port that is already under construction.

From there, the cargo will be transported by truck to the city of Blantyre, a journey of about 200 kilometres.