It provided transport for agricultural goods produced in the northeast that were shipped on the Congo River to Léopoldville (Kinshasa).

André Jacques Landeghem, district commissioner of Bas-Uele, wrote a report to the deputy governor-general of Orientale Province at Stanleyville in which he outlined the importance and urgency of linking the Congo River to the Great Lakes region in the east of the colony.

[2] Cominière[a] revived the old project of a railway to the Buta, Nepoko and Haut-Uélé regions in 1922 and obtained the concession in 1923.

[4] Cominière, a Belgian holding company, founded the Société des Chemins de Fer Vicinaux du Congo (Vicicongo) in 1924.

[4] To maintain order, the government provided troops of the Force Publique under Colonel Albert Paulis, assisted by lieutenants Gons and Liénart.

[11] In 1933–1934 the Senate Commission on the Colonial Budget criticized the way in which the government was making guaranteed payments to Vicicongo and the CFL (Compagnie du chemin de fer du Congo supérieur aux Grands Lacs africains).

However, these losses were due to Vicocongo subcontracting all its profitable activities to related but legally independent companies.

[9] In 1957 the Compagnie du Congo pour le Commerce et l'Industrie (CCCI) held a large interest in Vicicongo.

[13] Vicicongo carried agricultural products being exported from the northeast of the country to the port of Aketi, from where the goods were transported by river to Kinshasa.

[5] Traffic volumes were low, but due to the remote and dangerous region it was hard to recruit skilled workers.

[15] The company was merged into the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois (SNCZ) on 2 December 1974.

[citation needed] An ordinance of 3 April 1991 split the SNCZ into four entities, including the Chemins de fer des Uele (CFU).

A Magirus truck adapted to run on rails, which could pull four or five wagons, ran on the Aketi-Buta section between 1995 and the end of 2004.

[8] During the conflicts of 1998–2003 the track, bridges and stations were destroyed, with disastrous effect on the peasants, who could no longer sell their surplus.

The 873 kilometres (542 mi) line from Bumba in Mongala to Mungbere in Haut-Uele was the main axis of the northeast rail network.