Cear invests K1.8bn for 15 passenger coaches

Central East African Railways (Cear) has invested $2.6 million (about K1.8 billion) for nine passenger coaches to improve the quality of services for its passengers.

The passenger coaches, which have been bought from Transnet in South Africa, will be launched in the next two weeks, according to Cear public relations officer Chisomo Mwamadi.

These coaches add on to the six coaches the railway company bought in 2014.

“We earlier got six coaches and these are additional nine coaches plus a power car which has a generator,” he said in an interview in Liwonde on Saturday.

Mwamadi said the delay to bring in the new coaches was due to logistical challenges and also the fact that they had to be refurbished.

The coaches will be launched before they start running, he said.

A Liwonde based business person, Emanuel Masiye, who uses the train regularly between Balaka and Limbe in Blantyre, said the train is offering more comfort to passengers.