The Congo railway system is managed by “Le Chemin de Fer Congo-Océan” (CFCO), a public company with financial autonomy created in its present form in the year 2000. The Company takes care of the current maintenance of the network while major reparations are outsourced to private companies through public tenders. The CFCO current transport rates are currently USD 126/mt.

The railway system is widely used both for cargo and passengers. The major railway line in Congo is leading from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville. The railway connection arrives at the river port of Brazzaville.

However, due to security constraints in the Pool region the railway connection from Pointe Noire to Brazzaville is presently interrupted and commercial and passenger trains exiting Pointe Noire stop in Loutete, a station located about 240 km from Brazzaville. Also two bridges along the line were damaged and are currently out of order. There is currently no railway traffic exiting Brazzaville.

The line between Belinga and Dolisie is divided in two sections, the northern and southern line. The southern deviation connects eight stations for passenger traffic. The northern line goes through the Niari region from Mont Belo to Mbinda at the border with Gabon.

The availability of wagons is very unpredictable and sometimes causing delays in the distribution planning. The railway in Congo is not electrified and the traction is provided by diesel locomotives.

The suspension of the traffic and the absence of periodical maintenance is penalising and threatening the railway network infrastructures and the motive equipment. The current available operational equipment has decreased in the last couple of years bringing down the number of operational locomotives from 31 in 2014 to the currently 15.

For more information on government contact details, please see the following link: 4.1 Republic of the Congo Government Contact List.

Travel Time Matrix (DAYS)

Railway Companies and Consortia

There are currently no private railway companies in RoC. Pricing is established by the public Company CFCO.

For more information on railway company contact details, please see the following link: 4.9 Republic of the Congo Railway Companies Contact List . 

Capacity Table

Key Route Information

Key Stations

The three main stations Pointe Noire, M’binda (Dolisie) and Brazzaville. The Pointe Noire railway hub has rails entering the Port site allowing the loading and unloading of the cargos directly in the port area. Brazzaville has a railway connection to the river port integrating the railway to the Congo and Ubangui rivers barges.

There is currently no international railway connection but there are plans to rehabilitate the section from Mbinda into Gabon, which earlier served as a connection for manganese exports from Gabon to Pointe-Noire. No expected date for the execution of the project was provided.