An Angolan railroad destroyed during the country's 27-year civil war is set to resume service next month, nearly two decades after the 125-year-old line was forced to close, officials said Friday. Passenger service between the capital Luanda and the eastern city of Malanje will resume on January 13 after an 18-year hiatus, with freight service to follow two days later, a Luanda Railroad official told state radio station RNA.
The 424-kilometre (263-mile) line, which colonial power Portugal began building in 1885, was one of three major railroads destroyed during Angola's 1975-2002 civil war. It will be the first to reopen as part of a four-billion-dollar (three-billion-euro) reconstruction project carried out by Chinese firms, officials said.
"Next year, we'll also reopen the Mocamedes Railroad and in 2012, the Benguela Railroad," Transport Minister Augusto Tomas told RNA, referring to two other major rail links to the southern port city of Namibe (formerly Mocamedes) and the central province of Benguela. Oil-rich Angola, which vies with Nigeria for the title of Africa's top producer of crude, has been on a massive infrastructure spending spree since the end of its civil war.
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