(Business in Cameroon) - The Cameroonian railway company, Camrail, announced its decision, since 11 February, to temporarily decommission some passenger cars (railway cars), whose number was not specified.

This decision, we learned in a memo from the railroad operator, “follows the appearance on 26 January 2017, of a malfunction observed simultaneously on four axle boxes (wheel-bearing system, Ed.) of cars in the CSR fleet during the regularly scheduled maintenance check”.

This measure, we learned, led to a modification in the train composition, especially on the Yaoundé-Ngaoundéré line, where only 2^nd class seats are now offered.

The passenger cars concerned by this decision were commissioned in May 2014. They were supplied to the Cameroonian train transporter by the Chinese company CSR Nanjing.

The discovery of these malfunctions comes three months after the train accident which occurred on 21 October 2016 in Eséka, which officially left 79 dead and about 600 injured. The results of the official investigation opened by the Cameroonian authorities to shed light on the causes of this train accident are still expected.

BRM