Brazzaville–Kinshasa Bridge

The Brazzaville–Kinshasa Bridge is a planned road-rail bridge that will connect Brazzaville in the Republic of the Congo and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, two major capital cities on the Congo River.[1][2] The project has proceeded intermittently, but work is slated to begin in August 2020 after receiving a $210m loan from the African Development Bank.[3]

Advantages
  • Amongst other things, the proposed bridge would connect Kinshasa via rail to the deepwater 10.46 m draft port at Pointe Noire[4] rather than the shallower 8.20 m draft river port at Matadi.[5]
  • The railway systems of both countries use the same gauge, namely 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in)
  • With ever bigger ships, shipping companies prefer to use fewer ports.
  • The connected railways can share rolling stock which saves capital costs.
  • If one line is closed, for example by floods, traffic can be diverted to the other line.
  • There are potential lines from Angola and Namibia which would create a better network.
  • It will allow people to drive directly from South Africa to Eastern Russia, becoming part of the longest driven road possible.

Disadvantages
  • A minor detail would be to eventually unify couplers and brakes, etc., if not already compatible.
  • The Republic of the Congo might be more exposed to political turmoil in the Democratic Republic of Congo.
  • The great expense of construction.
  • Cost of maintenance would be an ongoing stress on both countries' budgets.
gollark: I agree.
gollark: I also disagree with the people saying they should teach stuff like doing taxes; there are entirely too many random "life skills" and they change lots. They should probably teach stuff like the ability to look this up on the internet on demand, and to usefully work from this information, rather than specific things.
gollark: How DARE I not have done some particular hobby you like. I will fetch my time machine and immediately rectify this.
gollark: No.
gollark: They did earlier.

See also

References
  1. "Brazzaville-Kinshasa rail/road bridge project - a project in Congo". MBendi.com. Archived from the original on 2016-05-19. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  2. "Building today, a better Africa tomorrow". African Development Bank. Retrieved 2017-07-18.
  3. "Road-rail bridge between Brazzaville and Kinshasa [Business Africa]", Africanews.com, retrieved 2020-02-26
  4. http://www.e-ships.net/ports/Congo/1143.htm%5B%5D
  5. http://www.e-ships.net/ports/Congo%20(Democratic%20Republic)/1148.htm

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