Surviving the 'swallow,' DR Congo's train of death

[John Ashworth]

Surviving the 'swallow,' DR Congo's train of death

In Kamina, an important railway node in the southern Democratic Republic of Congo, every day hundreds of people are getting on a train named after a bird, the "swallow". Locally known as the "hirondelle", it is, for the most part, the only link people in remote villages have to the outside world.

More than 2,000 people, three times the train's capacity, squeeze into its carriages, bathrooms are used for storage. For those who aren't able to find a place or who can't afford a ticket, there's always the roof. The train is unkempt, which makes travelling aboard the 'hirondelle' a dangerously risky journey...

Much of Congo's rail network dates back to the colonial era and has had little maintenance in decades of conflict - it is old, run-down, badly managed and in desperate need of an overhaul.

The "swallow" has been around for more than 50 years. The old engine was bought second-hand in South Africa. A relay of 10 train drivers is needed to cover the 1,600-kilometre-long journey across Congo.

Mr Molongo, the 63-year-old train driver, takes over one of the hardest legs of the trip: 120km of trouble, which takes him eight or nine hours.

"In the old days, we used to do it in four hours. The tracks became very bad and there's no proper maintenance these days," he says. Accidents and delays are frequent. Molongo supplements his income by allowing about 10 passengers to travel in the driver's cabin. It's as close as it gets to first class on the train...

The overcrowded train can also turn into a death trap. Train accidents are becoming more common, frequently killing passengers...