Democratic Republic of Congo accedes to the Luxembourg Rail Protocol Moving SADC Forward
The Rail Working Group (RWG) has welcomed the formal accession of the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to the Luxembourg Rail Protocol to the Cape Town Convention, a significant milestone for rail finance across Southern and Central Africa.
The Luxembourg Rail Protocol, adopted in 2007 under the auspices of UNIDROIT and in force since 8 March 2024, establishes an internationally recognised legal framework for security interests in railway rolling stock, making it easier and cheaper for the private sector to finance locomotives, wagons and other rail equipment. The DRC joins Gabon – one of the Protocol’s founding contracting states – and South Africa, which ratified in May 2025, as African parties to the treaty. Mozambique has signed, and a growing number of African states, including Namibia, Zimbabwe, Eswatini, Kenya and Ethiopia, are actively considering adoption.
The DRC’s accession carries particular strategic weight given the country’s extensive rail network and its central role in the Lobito Corridor, the 1,739-kilometre railway linking the mineral-rich Copperbelt to Angola’s Port of Lobito, one of the continent’s most strategically important logistics routes.
Her Excellency Madame Judith Suminwa Tuluka, Prime Minister and Chief of Government of the Democratic Republic of Congo, said: “We are delighted that DRC has acceded to the Luxembourg Rail Protocol and is now the second SADC contracting state. As our neighbours also move forward with accession, we look forward to seamless, cost effective, private finance for rolling stock moving around the SADC network”.
RWG chairman, Howard Rosen, added: “This is an exciting step forward both for the SADC region and Africa generally, reinforcing the Protocol’s role as a practical tool for unlocking rail investment across the continent. It will also create new business opportunities for Southern African manufacturers, operators and financiers, especially in the light of the recent commitment by the South African export credit agency (ECIC) to reduce its risk premiums when the Luxembourg Rail Protocol applies.”
Jamie Holley, CEO of leading African freight logistics operator and rolling stock lessor, Traxtion, said: “The large investments into uplifting the condition of the railways serving the DRC from the ports of Lobito and Dar es Salaam make the DRC an important railway country. The DRC’s accession to the Luxembourg Protocol will lift the business case for the investment at scale into trains to operate on this upgraded railway infrastructure. Together this has the ability to transform the region’s logistics landscape.”
