History
The railway line roughly follows old trade routes between the ancient trading centre of Benguela and its hinterland of the Bié plateau. In 1899, the Portuguese government initiated the construction of the railway to give access to the central Angolan plateau and the mineral wealth of the then Congo Free State. A concession, running for 99 years, was granted to Sir Robert Williams on 28 November 1902. His Benguela Railway Company took over the construction which commenced on 1 March 1903. Messrs Pauling & Co. and Messrs Griffiths & Co were contracted to build sections of the railway. By 1914 when World War I started, 500 kilometres (310 mi) had been completed. Construction was halted until 1920 after which the railway's connection to Luau at the border to the Congo Free State was completed in 1929. The primary purpose was the export trade and the "domestic Angolan traffic would be of secondary importance." The line proved very successful and profitable, especially in the early 1970s after Zambia closed the border with the then Rhodesia.
After Angola's independence in 1975, the Angolan Civil War brought operations to a halt. In the 2000s (decade), most of the infrastructure were still heavily damaged or destroyed. In 2005 talks were initiated between Angola and Zambia to restore operations. The People's Republic of China provided $300 to $500 million in financial aid to help the replacement of the war-damaged track.
Read more about this topic: Benguela Railway
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