The National Railway Company better known by its French acronym as CAMRAIL has acquired a brand new auto railway cleaner that will henceforth carry out geometric parameter controls on the highway in Cameroon.

The vehicle worth some CFA 2 310 000 000frs was put in service last December 3 in Yaoundé during a solemn ceremony chaired at the Yaoundé Railway Station by Transport Minister, Robert Nkili who doubles as Board Chair of the Inter-ministerial Committee of Railway Infrastructures, COMIFER.

Speaking in the presence of CAMRAIL Board Chair and General Manager, Hamadou Sali and Quentin Gerard respectively as well as other members of COMIFER, Prof Robert Nkili described the vehicle as a vital tool that comes to add impetus to the modernization efforts of Cameroon railway services.

In a chat with reporters at the end of the ceremony, CAMRAIL GM, Quentin Gerard explained that “This vehicle constructed by an Australian Plasser & Theurer Company specialized in railway maintenance will enable the Cameroon railway to get information on the geometric quality of way, statistics on the profiles of the rail and clear obstacles on the railway in order to prevent possible train accidents.

The acquisition of this vehicle falls within the framework of our investment plan between 2009-2020 to the tune of CFA 230 billion frs financed by CAMRAIL. It is worth noting that this ceremony is holding at the time CAMRAIL is celebrating its 15 years of presence in Cameroon.”

Statistics show that CAMRAIL transports 1 500 000 passengers and carries 1 650 000 tons of iron per year. The company is said to invest each year CFA 12 billion for the maintenance of railway infrastructures and materials and pays in taxes and other dues evaluated at about CFA 11 billion per year into the state coffers of Cameroon.