The first estimate of the cost of constructing the line was twenty-five million francs. This was based on the surveys of Major Cambier for the Compagnie du Congo pour la Commerce et l’Industrie, which, as early as the year 1887, had been granted certain rights and privileges if it would undertake to build the railway. On July 29, 1889, the Belgian Chamber agreed to provide ten million francs of the Company’s first capital, the remaining fifteen million francs having been subscribed chiefly by Belgian investors. The work so enthusiastically undertaken met with one setback after another, owing mainly to the engineering difficulties encountered in the rocky side of the mountain of Pallaballa, forming a spur of the great Crystal range, the western rampart of the Central African plateau. It required four years and indomitable perseverance to construct the section of the line from Matadi over the summit of Pallaballa, a distance of only twenty-six miles. In December, 1893, Colonel Wahis opened this part of the line with appropriate ceremonies, which many Europeans interested in Congo affairs attended. In the Mouvement Géographique appeared the following interesting description of this unique engineering triumph:
The train, on leaving the station of Matadi, passes in front of the works of the State and the Belgian and Portuguese commercial establishments, and debouches immediately by the Neck of the Guinea Fowls (Col des Pintades) into the Leopold Ravine, which it crosses by a bridge of sixty-five feet. It follows for a few minutes the right bank of the ravine, and is then on the bank of the Congo, whose magnificent panorama is suddenly exposed. Here commences the sensational part of the journey. For four miles, first alongside the Congo and then alongside the Mpozo, the way is hooked on to the side of the strong rock of Matadi. It mounts by a gentle incline, having on its right a perpendicular rocky wall, in some places seven hundred feet high, and on its left, in the foreground, the river rolling in rapids; and in the background the grand landscape of the right bank, with Vivi and Mount Leopold. At the sixth kilometre, where the Mpozo flows into the Congo, and before entering the valley of the former river, the view is exceedingly grand. At this point the railway is two hundred feet above the river—the Congo, enclosed in a gorge, rolls its tumultuous waters with extreme rapidity, as they have just made the descent from the Falls of Yellalla. On the left, to the north-east, the scenery is quite wild. It is equally so to the south-east, while the water is closed in in the narrow valley of the Mpozo. It was in these parts, at the very commencement of the work, that the difficulties were the greatest. From the Leopold Ravine to the bridge of the Mpozo, or for over four miles, the platform of the line had to be cut in terraces on the side of an immense rock of hard stone, through the thick equatorial vegetation which encumbered every ravine. Beyond Sleepy Hollow (Ravin du Sommeil), and after passing the ancient camp of Matadi-Mapembe, commences the famous ascent of Pallaballa. At the tenth kilometre the line attains a height of three hundred feet, or a rise of six hundred feet in four and a half miles. Beyond this the line traverses the Devil’s Ravine to reach the summit of the mountain, one thousand seven hundred feet, and in the course of this part of the work several bridges have had to be thrown across the intervening chasms or ravines. The whole of this part of the journey is really inspiring. The scenery is grand, works of skill succeed each other every minute, the perspective modifies itself to each of the numerous curves the road makes at every passage across the ravines. The railway ever ascends, hanging on to the mountain, suspended in places from three hundred to five hundred feet above the bottom of the Devil’s Ravine. The engine blows with force to the very moment of reaching the station of Pallaballa. Here the most interesting portion of the journey is over. The great difficulties, the long slopes of ascent at a maximum incline, recur no more.
It had now become apparent that the railway would cost more than double the sum originally estimated. Additional powers having been granted to the Company and a tripartite convention having provided the Congo Free State and the Belgian Government with power to buy the road, capital was raised to bring the total up to sixty million francs. By an extension of the time when the Congo State and Belgium may buy the line, the railway Company has possession until 1908.
A Unique Railroad.
The Cataracts Railway has some unique characteristics. It maintains a first- and a second-class car on each train. Trains leave Matadi every other day. Persons returning from the Congo refer to it as the strangest as well as the most profitable railway line in the world. It runs the distance between Matadi and Stanley Pool in twenty-four hours. First-class passage costs 500 francs, the second-class 50 francs. The former is, therefore, at the rate of 40 cents a mile. This, it is to be hoped, is at least some compensation for the great difficulties encountered in the construction of the line. For the final accomplishment of what is regarded in Europe as one of the great engineering feats in Africa, the energy and skill of Lieutenant Thys, the original surveys of Major Cambier, and the support of the King and the Belgian Parliament are largely to be credited. Outside assistance was almost entirely lacking.
The Mayumbe Railway is the second which was undertaken in the development of the Congo Free State. It connects Boma with Lukula, eighty kilometres (about fifty-four miles) distant, and has been in operation since 1901. It is narrow gauge (0.60 metre), while the Cataracts Railway is 0.70 metre.
Band of Government Technical School, Boma.
On the completion of the Mayumbe Railway, the State inspired the construction of three lines of one-metre gauge, with a total length of 1600 kilometres (1080 miles). These lines are being undertaken by the Compagnie des Chemins de Fer du Congo Supérieur aux Grands Lacs Africains under an agreement made with the State on January 4, 1902. The latest report of the Vice-Governor-General (July, 1904) indicates the present stage to which these lines and others have attained:
A route for a railroad from Stanleyville to the Great Lakes has been surveyed. This survey comprehends a principal trunk line, Stanleyville-Bafwaboli-Mawambi-Irumu, 762 kilometres in length. Near Irumu the track branches off in two directions, one, Irumu-Mahagi, of 358 kilometres, the other, Irumu-Beni, of 135 kilometres. At present the surveys are being made for a track from Beni to Lake Tanganyika.