International Railroad Discussion > At least 33 killed in Congo freight train crash

"At least 33 people have been killed after a freight train carrying inflammable materials crashed on Sunday in southeastern Democratic Republic of Congo."

http://www.africanews.com/2017/11/13/at-least-33-killed-in-the-democratic-republic-of-congo-freight-train-crash/

It's always smart to stowaway on a tanker train.

In one of the poorest, most wretched countries on earth, I think we can cut these people some slack.

Thak you, march_hare. Those poor people.....
They deserve so much better than what they now
have.

The locomotive involved was a Chinese built CKD8C1, numbered 1924-7

Photos here courtesy of Voice of America's French language service
https://www.voaafrique.com/a/au-moins-33-morts-dans-un-accident-de-train-en-rdc/4112543.html

The "informal passengers" in the DRC pay a "fare" to the train crews (all freight trains carry security goons), who retain a percentage themselves, but kick the bulk upstairs to their managers who allow the practice, in turn the managers pay off the politicians who appointed them. The Kamina freight train derailment in April 2014 had an eventual official death toll of around 70. Representatives of the IRC counted 200 corpses, and other NGO's estimated the death toll at over 300, as it took officialdom 18 hours to reach the accident site, and local villages had stripped and robbed at least a 100 corpses, and tipped the remains into a river next to the site, before official help arrived

http://observers.france24.com/fr/20140424-catastrophe-train-rd-congo-victimes-kamina-accident-images

The rescue services used a backhoe to excavate pits next to the crash site, and bodies were buried with minimum ID

A white contract crew from South African operator Sheltam were the first train on the scene. Sheltam crews are self contained, and pull a relay cabooses behind the loco for their accommodation, and carry a fair bit of re-railing kit in it, they used their loco with chains and cables to clear the line. Photo from Facebook

---

---

---

For those interested, these are Sheltam relay cabooses used in the Congo

1 - CR-001 converted from a 40 container, photo from Sheltam website

2 - CR-009 rebuilt ex South African Railways caboose (Facebook)

3 - The Sheltam units carry a relatively powerful genset, which is apparently capable of starting the loco, should the loco batteries fail (Facebook)

Sheltam (rebranded as Traxtion last month)contracted services for SNCC from around 2010. They have used a mixture of GL26CM (factory supplied on trimount bogies), and U18C1

---

---

---

That would make it the fourth major crash in the past 26 years. There was a crash in 2010 that killed 76 people, and there was a crash in 1991 that killed over 100.

SD80MACfan Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> That would make it the fourth major crash in the
> past 26 years. There was a crash in 2010 that
> killed 76 people, and there was a crash in 1991
> that killed over 100.

If this is the 2010 crash that you are referring to, it occurred in the Republic of the Congo, which is the ex-French colony north of the river (Brazzaville capital). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yanga_derailment

Both of the Congos have a deplorable train wreck record, however the Democratic Republic of the Congo (capital Kinshasa), the ex Belgium colony south of the river has the more appalling. For the DRC ignore the official death toll figures, it is in the interest of the bureaucracy and political class to deflate the figure, so as to continue the corrupt practices. You have to understand the African political/ruling class mentality. Disasters are good for business. NGO's can be "taxed" to allow them into the country, survives can be charged to be placed on victim lists, and less well-off members of officials extended family added, there is incoming relief from the first world that can be plundered, lots of opportunities for corruption.
http://www.aljazeera.com/programmes/riskingitall/2017/09/surviving-swallow-dr-congo-train-death-170923135544892.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/04/world/africa/04congo.html

38 Chinese locos were delivered to the DRC in 2014/5. 20 of these were "gifted" by the World Bank. Based on natural resources the DRC is potentially the richest country in Africa, however the per capita income is among the lowest. These 38 Chinese locos (20 x CKD8C1, 10 x CKD8C4, and 4 x CK1F2) delivered to the eastern system based at Lubumbashi in Katanga, should have revitalized rail, however the rebuilding of tracks is years behind schedule.

A problem in Katanga is ballast removal. A century of moving copper and cobalt concentrates in poorly maintained wagons, means that there are rich pickings for artisan miners below the rail tracks. Below images from the 2016 SNCC website, also photos in this article.
http://observers.france24.com/en/20150224-congo-copper-diggers-train-railways

---

---

From the looks of the trackage, seems they are quite okay with these wrecks.