DR Congo rail decay: A visual collapse

DR Congo rail decay: A visual collapse

A ten-minute video, likely filmed on the railway line connecting Kinshasa to Matadi, captures a journey that epitomizes the state of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It shows a train moving slowly through tons of garbage, tracks overgrown with weeds, and hundreds of people who appear to have nothing to do. The contrast between demographic vitality and institutional abandonment is so stark that some comments compare it to Mad Max. But behind the images are concrete data explaining why Africa's richest country in resources is simultaneously a failed state.

The railway that inherited neglect

The line was built in 1898 during the Belgian Congo era. It is narrow-gauge and, judging by the images, has never received herbicide treatment. The rails, at least in some sections, remain original. The circulating unit is diesel, probably of Japanese origin, and although there are signs that sleepers were renewed in some points (perhaps with World Bank aid in the 1960s), the network as a whole is collapsed. The Congolese capital, with more than 16 million inhabitants, does not have a single bridge connecting it to Brazzaville, across the Congo River. Nor is there more than one major railway bridge in the entire country, despite the river dividing Africa almost in two.

The weight of demographics

The population of the DRC is around 116 million people, according to recent estimates, growing at a rate of nearly 30 million each year. In 40 years, the population has tripled. This demographic explosion combines with a state that barely provides basic services. Migration figures are revealing: around 52% of Africans who emigrate do so within the continent itself; about 11 million Africans have reached Europe, while 22 million have moved between African countries. The argument that "very few come" rests on the fact that 1% of Africa's annual growth ends up in Europe.

Garbage, corruption, and wasted energy potential

The accumulation of waste along the track is not an accident: it is the consequence of a lack of municipal collection, corruption, and, according to some analyses, institutional collapse since independence in 1960. The DRC has the greatest hydroelectric potential in Africa, but political instability prevents any large dam. Meanwhile, the Chinese are investing in railways in Angola, Kenya, or Ethiopia, but in Congo, the network rots.

With these elements, the video is not just a curiosity; it is a forecast. If life is like this in the DRC, with its enormous resources, what would happen if the food crisis (they depend on imported soy and corn) pushed millions to try to leave? The mass regularization in Spain in 2026 is seen, from this perspective, as a risk that the numbers do not fully calibrate. And meanwhile, the train keeps running, with loose chickens and no schedules, reminding us that the border between chaos and survival is sometimes just a narrow-gauge rail.