The railway took over the assets of the "Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer Zaïrois" (SNCZ; "National Railway Company of Zaire"). Due to the civil war, the railway was not functioning from 1998 until June 29, 2004. During the war, 500 km of railway in the provinces of Maniema and Katanga were destroyed. A million dollar grant from the United States Agency for International Development's Office of Foreign Disaster Assistance is helping to pay for the section's repair. Charities often use the railway to distribute food and other supplies. Despite foreign support, SNCC was again on the brink of collapse in 2010; to prevent this, in June 2010 the World Bank gave a 255 million US dollar grant.