Trains across Central Africa

NaN routes and 7 operators across 4 countries Fares and travel times below come from the same engine that answers the search box.

Mbuji-MayiMbuji-MayiLubumbashiLubumbashi

1,556 Trains routes run across Central Africa, reaching 75 places in 4 countries through 7 operators On the 16 busiest of them, priced on October 8, 2026, the cheapest fare is €15.74 and the fastest trip is 1h 28m door to door. A median route runs 254 km.

Checked October 8, 2026Priced for October 8, 2026One passenger, all fees included

The network

Trains in Central Africa, in numbers

What we actually sell, counted rather than claimed.

  • 1,556Routes we sell
  • 389Corridors
  • 75Places served
  • 4Countries
  • 7Operators
  • 1,556Domestic routes
  • 0Cross border routes
  • 0Routes out of the region
  • 254 kmMedian route
  • 1,113 kmLongest route
Door to door

How the modes compare across Central Africa

Every mode measured on the same 16 corridors in Central Africa, priced on October 8, 2026 for one passenger.

Median fare, median door-to-door time and median carbon per passenger, over the corridors of Central Africa where each mode runs.
ModeCorridors pricedFromDoor to doorCO2
Train16€73.494h 19m16.7 kg
Flight1€98.674h 40m189.7 kg
Routes

The corridors that matter in Central Africa

Ranked by how much service runs, then priced. The country and city pages carry the rest.

The busiest routes we sell in Central Africa, priced on October 8, 2026 for one passenger with every fee included.
RouteFromFastestDistance
Catchiungo to Caála train€15.741h 28m79 km
Sumbe to Lobito train€25.641h 52m133 km
Mwene-Ditu to Kananga train€30.042h 9m169 km
Caála to Bocoio train€30.042h 10m160 km
Bocoio to Huambo train€33.342h 21m177 km
Gabela to Lobito train€35.542h 28m192 km
Kolwezi to Lubumbashi train€42.692h 48m243 km
Kamina to Lubumbashi train€72.394h 13m424 km
Ilebo to Mwene-Ditu train€74.594h 25m435 km
Mwene to Kananga train€75.144h 33m439 km
Ilebo to Kabinda train€81.194h 38m476 km
Gandajika to Likasi train€95.495h 8m562 km
Kabinda to Likasi train€100.995h 22m593 km
Luena to Lobito train€124.647h 1m697 km
Mbuji-Mayi to Lubumbashi train€135.645h 51m748 km
Tshikapa to Lubumbashi train€158.198h 11m937 km
Countries

Countries in Central Africa

Every country in Central Africa we sell in, most routes first.

Routes, places and carriers in each country of Central Africa.
CountryRoutesPlacesOperators
Congo - Kinshasa976423
Angola488202
Cameroon5681
Congo - Brazzaville3651
Booking window

When to book in Central Africa

The same search run at seven lead times across 3 corridors in Central Africa.

  1. €149.393 days
  2. €137.297 days
  3. €100.9921 days
  4. €81.7445 days
  5. €123.5484 days
Cheapest lead time
Across the routes we sampled the typical fare is lowest around 45 days ahead, at €81.74.
How much it moves
The gap between the cheapest and most expensive lead time is 45 percent. At the most expensive point the typical fare is €149.39, 3 days out.
Catchment

How far people travel to get here

Every origin we sell by Trains, grouped by how far it is in a straight line.

Straight line distance from each origin we sell, not the distance the route runs.
DistanceRoutesShareNearest of them
Under 200 km59238%Fungurume, 41 km
200 to 600 km82453%Kananga, 200 km
600 to 1,500 km1409%Gabela, 612 km
Carriers

Rail operators

The carriers with the largest networks inside Central Africa.

Train destinations

Other ways to travel across Central Africa

Common questions about Trains across Central Africa

How many Trains routes does Orlero sell across Central Africa?

1,556 of them, across 4 countries reaching 75 places through 7 operators

How much does travelling by Trains cost in Central Africa?

On the 16 busiest Trains corridors in Central Africa, priced on October 8, 2026, the lowest fare is €15.74 and the median is €73.49.

Is Trains the fastest way across Central Africa?

On the corridors we priced, train takes a median of 4h 19m door to door, against 4h 40m by Flight. Both figures include reaching the terminal and leaving it at the other end.

Which countries in Central Africa have Trains routes we sell?

Congo - Kinshasa, Angola, Cameroon, Congo - Brazzaville.

Who runs the Trains services in Central Africa?

SNCC, Caminho de Ferro de Benguela, Onatra, Camrail, CFCO, Caminho de Ferro de Mocamedes, among 7 carriers we sell across Central Africa.

When should I book travel across Central Africa?

Fares on the corridors we sampled bottom out about 45 days before departure. Booking then rather than 3 days ahead was 45 percent cheaper on this sample.

How far apart are the places we sell in Central Africa?

The median route runs 254 km in a straight line and the shortest is 41 km. The longest we sell is 1,113 km, from Ilebo to Lubumbashi.

Where these numbers come from

Places, coordinates, operators, which operator serves which pair, and every distance on this page are real and come from open data. Where a corridor has a filed timetable the departure times are real too, and ferry fares are the prices the operators publish themselves.

Where no operator publishes a fare for a corridor, the price here is our own estimate, worked out from the real distance and the real operator through a fare curve that follows lead time, day of the week and season. It tells you roughly what the journey costs. It is not a seat anyone has agreed to sell, and the payment step will not take it.

Defined in full at Door to door, Fares

Regions
A region is a set of countries, and a route counts for it when either end is inside it. Countries are grouped from their ISO code alone, so the map grows with the data and nothing here is drawn by hand.
The sample
Fares, travel times and carbon are measured on the 16 highest ranked corridors in this region, spread across it rather than taken from the top, so the figures describe the region and not its busiest country.
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