THE first passenger train in over two years this week travelled along a key railway line in the central African state of Congo. The train on the 512km Congo-Ocean line, linking the Atlantic port of Pointe-Noire to the capital Brazzaville, carried 396 passengers for an overnight run that took 12 hours. Freight services on the route, which is Congo’s economic lifeline, resumed in August last year after an interruption in late 1998 due to fighting in the centre of the country. – AFP