黑角火车站(Pointe-Noire Railway Station)是刚果共和国大西洋沿岸最引人注目的地标,也是著名的 510 公里大洋铁路(CFCO)的西端起点。这座落成于 1934 年的车站不仅是重要的交通枢纽,更是一件充满法式风情的建筑艺术品,静静诉说着这个港口城市的百年沧桑。即便不打算真的买票去布拉柴维尔,来这里感受下浓郁的殖民时代装饰艺术风格也是黑角旅行的必经之路。
黑角火车站的整体设计出自法国建筑师让·菲利波(Jean Philippot)之手。这位建筑师在法国本土也颇有名气,他曾主导设计了诺曼底著名的多维尔火车站。仔细观察黑角车站的立面,你会发现它与多维尔车站有着惊人的相似之处,尤其是那些模仿木质结构的黑色垂直线条。这种将诺曼底风格融入热带非洲的做法在当时非常有前卫感,也让这座车站成了非洲大陆上罕见的艺术装饰风格(Art Deco)精品。
车站正中高耸的钟楼是黑角市中心的天际线焦点。海拔高度大约 14 米的车站坐落在戴高乐大道的尽头,不仅把城市商业区和海滨度假区分隔开来,还自带一种庄严的历史仪式感。钟楼上的时钟虽然偶尔会停摆,但它依然是当地人相约碰头的首选地点。广场上总有卖水果和报纸的小摊位,烟火气十足,非常适合在那儿坐会儿,拍几张颇有年代感的照片。
想在黑角坐火车可不能指望网上订票。你得亲自去车站售票窗口,最好提前一两天打听。目前运营的主力是羚羊号(La Gazelle)列车。从黑角到首都布拉柴维尔的全程票价大约在 20000 到 25000 西非法郎(CFA)之间。如果只是去中途的站,比如多利吉(Dolisie),票价通常不到 10000 西非法郎。说真的,票源有时候挺紧张,尤其是当地节假日前后,建议早点去排队。
列车发车频次不算稳定,通常一周只有一两班,现在大多是周一或周五下午发车。虽然羚羊号配有韩国制造的车厢,一等座甚至有空调,但 16 小时以上的车程依然考验体力。铁轨老化严重,火车跑不快,平均时速也就 40 公里左右。车上的厕所条件比较简陋,建议自备卫生纸和充足的饮用水。不过,当你看着火车缓缓穿过马永贝森林(Mayombe Forest)时,那种原始丛林的压迫感和震撼绝对是坐飞机体会不到的。
说起大洋铁路的修建过程,那是相当沉重的。这项工程从 1921 年动工,一直修到了 1934 年。为了把刚果河内陆的物资运出来,当时的殖民政府动用了超过 12 万名劳工。由于森林地形复杂、气候恶劣,加上卫生条件极差,据史料记载有大约 14000 到 20000 人在修路过程中失去了生命。安德烈·纪德等文豪都曾在作品中提到过这段惨烈的往事,所以这座车站其实也是一座巨大的无名纪念碑。
现在的黑角车站虽然略显陈旧,有的墙面甚至长出了杂草,但它依然是刚果(布)的经济命脉。除了偶尔运行的客运列车,这里更多承担着锰矿、木材和石油产品的货运重任。火车站旁边的深水港和铁路紧密相连,构成了这个中非重要港口城市的物流核心。对游客来说,这儿是观察刚果社会百态的最佳窗口,能看到忙碌的装卸工,也能看到提着大包小裹回乡的本地家庭。
普通游客在车站外观拍照一般没人管,但要进入站台或对着列车近距离拍摄,最好先征得保安人员同意。由于涉及交通枢纽敏感度,有时候工作人员会要求查看证件或收取极少量的管理费用,建议保持礼貌并多备一些零钱。
目前的运营线路避开了曾经的不稳定地区,整体安全系数有所提高。不过由于铁轨设施非常陈旧,晚点甚至轻微脱轨事故偶尔会发生,建议对时间不要卡得太死。车厢内部有安保人员巡逻,随身财物还是要自己留心看管好。
羚羊号列车相比普通慢车要舒适得多,一等座车厢配备了相对整洁的座椅和简易餐车。虽然 2012 年引进时的豪华感已经所剩无几,但空调系统在大多数时候还是能正常工作的,是目前刚果(布)境内最高标准的陆路出行选择。
火车站就位于城市中心,出门步行 10 分钟内就有不少法式烘焙店和刚果特色餐馆。如果你想尝试当地风味,附近市场上卖的木薯叶炖鱼和烤鸡非常地道,价格通常在 3000 西非法郎左右,非常受当地上班族欢迎。
Emmanuel Ismman Pretty historic station. Yet, it's still functional and useful. The monument in front of it, at the Place du Centenaire, is part of the celebration of the centenary of the city of Pointe-Noire on 22 May 2022.
Herman Du Plessis It's a nice historic building good architecture by the French, but now it is going to ruins, smells and dirty inside I climbed the clock tower, clocks are now electric but don't work, some of the old mechanical parts are still there. Homeless people sleep there but it is open and free to visit.
El-Jean Pointe-Noire train station is a Congolese railway station on the Pointe-Noire-Brazzaville line. With the train station of Brazzaville, it is one of the two terminus of this line at the edge of the Atlantic Ocean, in the department of Pointe-Noire. Located at an height of 14 m, Pointe-Noire station is situated at the kilometric point (PK) 0 of the Congo-Ocean railway line linking Pointe-Noire, the economic capital to Brazzaville, the political capital. This line is 515 km long. The station is located at the completion of the Avenue Charles de Gaulle, the main artery of the city. This remarkable building is a landmark and a central point in the city. The railway line in the city centre marks a clear separation between downtown activity and "la côte sauvage " (the Wild Coast beach), which remains a resort for the pontengrins. On September 26, 1921, the Governor General of French Equatorial Africa, Victor Augagneur, created the electoral district of the Congo-Ocean Railway (CFCO), with Loudima as its Chief location. Thus, it is the decision to build a deep-water harbor that pushes colonial administrators to abandon the historic city of Loango for the benefit of Pointe Noire. The latter is therefore chosen to be the terminus of the CFCO. While in 1921, the first picks were given for the construction of the CFCO on the Brazzaville side, the location of the oceanic terminus of the line is not yet defined. The design of the building would be 1931 and the track was completely completed only in 1934. The set "descriptive quotation, pre-award, price list, estimate, drawings " was performed in 1933, according to the national overseas archives (ANOM). At its official inauguration on July 10, 1934, the passenger station was not completed. The temporary station (freight station) located closer to the future port, were still be used temporarily for the travelers. Source: Wikipedia El-Jean
Bryce Caster The building is beautiful, but the police are weird about not allowing photography of this symbol of the city.
Benedicte Aloula Manomba Air a yes