Proposal for a reform of Benguela Railways

To As a transport economist I hereby propose following rail reform in Angola.

Passenger network

I propose to rename the rail services in order to increase its popularity among passengers. That move would also attract European tourists to use the railway for travel. The trains would have to be painted externally to resemble a "High speed train", a "Shinkansen", a "TGV". It would serve for marketing purposes, for pictures in flyers for tourists. 

Suburban services
I propose to rename the suburban rail service as: Benguela Metro (Benguela Metropolitan Railway - Caminhos de Fer Urbanos).
connection from Benguela via Negrão to Lobito (33 km). Necessary basic marketing changes: Stations would be newly painted with big green "M" letter on them.
Two metro lines would be served:
M1: Lobito via Negrão to Benguela
M2: Lobito via Negrão and Benguela to Bimbas
DMU's would be used. Used second-hand 1067-mm DMU's (diesel multiple units) would be purchased in the future for the service. A new line to Baia Farta would be constructed for suburban services.

A new company " Caminhos de Ferro Urbanos" would be created for the purpose. It would own some rolling stock, like a one DMU, for a start, and some ordinary fleet as an emergency replacement. It would start from the existing suburban services and would develop these suburban services on its own, separately from CFB main operations.

Longonjo- Hueva- St Iria

A suburban service- Metro Huambo- would be introduced on the line: 

New terminal station for suburban services would be added- Chiva, on the eastern end of the double track line. As a result, a connection M1: Longonjo- Huambo- St Iria- Chiva would be served with a DMU unit, circulating in a pendular manner. Necessary basic marketing changes: Stations on the line would be newly painted with big green "M" letters on them. A new company: "Metro Huambo" (Huambo Metropolitan Railway - Caminhos de Fer Urbanos), would be created to serve the city and suburbs. It would start with only one DMU.

The new company "Metro Huambo" would restore, own and operate the "Ramal of Cuima", Cuima branch line, which would be renovated for the purpose of suburban line nicknamed "Metro". It is the terminus of a branch railway that junctions off the Benguela Railway near Pais. The whole line would be renovated and turned into a suburban "metro" line nicknamed M2: Cuima- Huambo- Chiva. The line to Cuima could be served by a DMU once or twice daily.

Em 1962 foi construído o Ramal do Cuima, com 65 km, que, saindo da estaçao de Robert Williams (Caála), ligava as minas de ferro situadas naquela localidade. Atualmente, porém, este ramal encontra-se inoperante.[source: wikipedia]

Intercity services
The once-weekly connections from Lobito to Huambo and Kuito  would be renamed into "Inter-city" or "Intercity Express" depending on how many stops would be served.

A new company " CFB Intercity" would be created for the purpose. It would own some rolling stock.

Regional services
In the future some regional trains could be introduced. They would serve more stops along the line. 
A new company "CFB Regional" would be created for the purpose. It would own some rolling stock. Services would be paid for by regional authorities. Examples:

Cachiungo- Huambo- Longonjo- Chinjenje, Cuima- Huambo- Cachiungo etc. Huambo province would have to procure these services.

The revival of the old line would occur, for regional services on the line, provided rarely. The line would serve as a Museum railway, heritage railway, but it would also be open for a daily ride for local villagers for a very small fee or even freely. Besides, once, twice weekly the old museum line with a DMU unit, and it could be upgraded to a regional rail line in the future, to serve the villages along the route for a daily regional train to Benguela via the old line. Proposed route would serve small townships and villages:

(Benguela)

(Bimbas)

Benguela - Caimbambo
Pela linha velha / over old line

.	Comboio no.	.	.	.	.	.		Comboio no.	.	.	.	.	.
.	Classes	.	.	.	.	.		Classes	.	.	.	.	.
Km	Días de circulação	.	.	.	.	.		Días de circulação	.	.	.	.	.
0	BENGUELA	p	.	.	.	.		CAIMBAMBO (Estação Velha)	p	.	.	.	.
9,2	Bimbas	p	.	.	.	.		Sapa	p	.	.	.	.
12	Chivanda	p	.	.	.	.		Solo	p	.	.	.	.
18	São Pedro	p	.	.	.	.		Cavinjal	p	.	.	.	.
24	Monte Sàoa	p	.	.	.	.		Catengue	p	.	.	.	.
35	Binga	p	.	.	.	.		Capunda	p	.	.	.	.
48	Coruteva	p	.	.	.	.		Chivite	p	.	.	.	.
53	Lucanda	p	.	.	.	.		Portela	p	.	.	.	.
60	Portela	p	.	.	.	.		Lucanda	p	.	.	.	.
68	Chivite	p	.	.	.	.		Coruteva	p	.	.	.	.
75	Capunda	p	.	.	.	.		Binga	p	.	.	.	.
87	Catengue	p	.	.	.	.		Monte Sàoa	p	.	.	.	.
99	Cavinjal	p	.	.	.	.		São Pedro	p	.	.	.	.
107	Solo	p	.	.	.	.		Chivanda	p	.	.	.	.
116	Sapa	p	.	.	.	.		Bimbas	p	.	.	.	.
128	CAIMBAMBO (Estação Velha)	ch	.	.	.	.		BENGUELA	ch	.	.	.	.

New Stations
I propose a new train station: Malanje Central - in the Malanje eastern part of the town, and maybe a new section of track for a train line with a train station in Cangandala.

Museum
All the remaining historical items  and the old line from Bimbas to Caimbambo Estacao Velha would be handed over to rail enthusiasts, including all the buildings, stations and unnecessary equipment. The items could not be sold out of the country. Rail enthusiasts and rail fans would have to create NGO to be allowed to own rolling stock. They could run trains for tourists on the CFB network. The "Heritage Railway" would own its own network- the old line from Bimbas to Caimbambo Estação Velha. It could even receive a state subsidy to operate a one train daily on the old line Caimbambo Est. Velha- Benguela. 

Cargo
CFB Cargo would be created, it would own cargo wagons but not locomotives, I would give the locomotives to passenger train operating companies, so they could gain financial support to carry deficit- making passenger trains. In the future - provincial councils, regional and city authorities would have to pay out subsidies for the passenger services. They would have to run a tendering procedure to find the most suitable train operator, like in Europe. State would have to pay subsidies to long distance Intercity services from Lobito to Huambo and Kuito.

Infrastructure
A separate company CFB Infrastructure would be created. All the other train owning companies would pay a fee for using the rail track. There would be no singl management of the infrastructure and rail operations. The CFB Infrastructure would be a completely separate company. With completely separate management. 

Future:
An Intercity Express train from Lobito to Huambo or even Kolwezi would be introduced, as a high speed train, with some very modern painting. It could resemble a high speed train only externally, to resemble "a high speed train" on the marketing flyers for tourists and guests. The speed of the service would be probably a bit of a joke, but the marketing could work. Only a little piece of the line could be modernised, the rest could be slow.

Cheers,
-- --