Congo-Ocean Railway

The Congo-Ocean railway runs some five hundred kilometres from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville, built between 1921 and 1934 through the Mayombe hills with forced labour, and the death toll among the workers, more than 17,000 by one count, made it a byword for colonial brutality and was written about by André Gide among others. The line still runs, irregularly, and the section through the Mayombe is spectacular.

History

In 1921 the Société de Construction des Batignolles was contracted to build the line, which opened in 1934 and bypassed the rapids of the lower Congo. A branch to Mbinda near the Gabonese border was added in 1962 to carry manganese ore, and the main line runs 502 kilometres from Pointe-Noire to Brazzaville (Wikipedia, Congo-Ocean Railway).

The main sights

• The Mayombe section - the line cutting through the hill forest with tunnels and bridges.
• The construction history - the forced labour and the death toll it produced.
• The station buildings - the surviving structures along the route.
• The route - some five hundred kilometres from the coast to the river.

When to go

June to September is the dry season. Services run irregularly and are frequently suspended. Journeys take a full day or longer.

What to expect

Services are unreliable and have been suspended for long periods. Rolling stock is worn and journeys take far longer than scheduled. The construction history is grim and worth knowing before travelling on it.

Nearby

Pointe-Noire is at the western end, and Brazzaville at the eastern.

Key facts