Last Monday the Trans-Gabon railway operator, SETRAG, announced it would be purchasing new equipment and installations in 2011 to improve the safety and comfort of its trains.

According to its chief executive Jean-François Coutin, SETRAG plans to buy two trains, 10 carriages, tracks and 60 000 sleepers amounting to five billion CFA francs.

The investment comes as part of plans to bolster the transport system in time for the 2012 African Cup of Nations football championship, which Gabon will be co-hosting with Equatorial Guinea.

SETRAG is a public limited company established in Libreville in June 1997, with a capital of 10 billion CFA francs, and whose main shareholder is ERAMET Group.

The single-track Trans-Gabon Railway is the only railway in Gabon and runs 665 km south-east across the country from the capital Libreville on the west coast.

(Source: PANA)