Big Money Moving: Angola's Railway Gets a Major Upgrade

Angola is getting a serious boost in transportation with a huge loan deal. A group of companies and the U. S. International Development Finance Corporation just signed a $553 million loan to fix up a big railway line. This isn't just any railway—it's part of the Lobito Corridor, a super important route for moving copper and cobalt from mines to the Atlantic coast. The U. S. isn't just throwing money at this project for fun. It's a big part of their plan to get more of those strategic metals and to compete with China's influence in Africa. China has been busy too, putting money into the Tanzania-Zambia railway, so this is like a big game of chess between the two countries, but with trains and mines instead of pawns. The Development Bank of Southern Africa is also chipping in $200 million. Together, this cash will help fix up the railway and a minerals port in Lobito. The goal? To move way more stuff—like ten times more—and make it cheaper to transport those critical minerals.The railway is a big deal because it connects mines in Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo to Angola's Lobito port. That's a lot of ground to cover—over 500 kilometers in Zambia and another 300 in the Congo, plus the existing 1, 300-kilometer Benguela line in Angola. The Africa Finance Corporation, which is leading the project, is already looking for contractors to build the Zambia part of the railway. This isn't a quick project. The developers plan to wrap up more financing deals by the end of 2026. And China isn't sitting idle. They've already said they'll spend $1. 4 billion to fix up the Tanzania-Zambia railway, which uses Tanzanian ports to ship out minerals. So, what's the big picture here? It's about more than just trains and ports. It's about who controls the flow of critical minerals and who has the most influence in Africa. The U. S. and China are both making big moves, and Angola's railway is right in the middle of it all.