Bridges on the Benguela Railway (non-urban area)

Benguela Railway [towns of Cubal; Alto Catumbela; Chinguar; Camacupa, General Machado], Benguela, Huambo, Bié, Moxico, Angola

Equipment and Infrastructures

The railway required the construction of remarkable engineering works, among which the bridges were the most emblematic. Nearly all were made unfeasible, sabotaged or destroyed during the post-independence wars and some were replaced by temporary structures, whereas others are still undergoing reconstruction. Among the 97 bridges and pontoons along the line, 79 were metallic and 18 were pre-stressed concrete, namely the 14 on the Cubal spur, varying between 20 and 260 metres long and between 5 and 42 metres high. As a whole, they form a significant legacy of the infrastructure system of the Benguela Railway.

• Maria da Conceição Neto