The proposal was made to the Union of African Railways (UAR), by Angolan Transport Minister, André Luís Brandão, on assessing the report project presented by sector experts during the meeting of African transport ministers, which took place on April 13 and 14 at the parliamentary palace in Brazzaville, Democratic Republic of Congo.

During the ministerial meeting, the participants heard about Angola’s experiences in terms of investment in the rail sector.

Figures from the United Nations economic commission for Africa point to a rail network estimated at 89,390 kilometers of railway lines covering an area of 30.2 million square kilometers.

The density of this network is of around 2.96 kilometers per 1,000 square kilometers, while Europe has around 60 kilometers of railway line per 1,000 square kilometers.

The southern Africa region, of which Angola is a part, has a bigger network with around 38,513 kilometers, followed by North Africa with 19,931 kilometers, East Africa with 19,293 kilometers and West Africa with 9,717 kilometers. Central Africa has the smallest network of just 2,526 kilometers.

The ministers were unanimous in recognizing that rail was the best-adapted means of transport for moving large quantities of goods over long distances and that its was particularly useful for transporting goods to and from African countries with no seaboard.