Central East African Railways (CEAR) says it will, by 2022, be transporting more than one million tons of goods per year following the revamp of new railway lines the company has been working on for the past years.

Speaking during a press conference held at Heritage Hotel in Blantyre, CEAR Director, Gustavo Henrique Stein said the company has been working on railway lines from Nkaya to Limbe, Nkaya to Kanengo and Mchinji and the main coal line from Nacala to Moatize.

“Due to these maintenance operations, we were not able to transport as many goods which has changed during this first quarter of the year and the revamp has also allowed us to be transporting other goods like fuel that we could not do before,” said Henrique Stein.

Finance Manager and Company Secretary, Christina Chithila said this year alone CEAR has planned to transport 588,000 tons and increase from 488,000 tons which it transported last year.

“The company has to date realized an increase in the net profit from the estimated USD1.7 million to USD 2.1 million from both coal and general cargo during the first quarter of the year,” said Chithila.

She said: “Due to the conversant railway line, the company shipped in two coaches which have seen an increase in the number of train users from 45,000 passengers to 55,000 compared to last year’s first quarter.

“The increase in number of passengers has helped exceed our targeted revenue collection from K52, 000 to K57, 000.”

Commercial Manager, Kondwani Mkondo in his speech outlined some of the challenges the company has been experiencing due to vandalism on the railway lines which was slowing down their operations.

Mkondo commended Malawi government through the community workers for chipping in to raise awareness among those living along the railway line to end vandalism.

CEAR, with its Mozambican sister company, Corridor Desenvolvimento Do Norte, jointly started its operations in 1999 with an ultimate goal to improve the rail traffic, expanding and modernizing the existing fleet.