Railway in Tanzania and Zambia
![](//upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/c/cb/Railways_in_Tanzania.svg/250px-Railways_in_Tanzania.svg.png)
Tanzania railway network
1000mm gauge
,
1067mm gauge (TAZARA)
Tanzania-Zambia
Railway (TAZARA)
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km
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0.0
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Dar es Salaam
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1.9
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3.0
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Yombo
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18.1
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Mwakanga
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28.7
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Vigama
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33.7
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Kazimzumbwi
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42.0
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Kifuru
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64.7
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Chakenge
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70.6
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Mzenga
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89.8
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Nyani
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103.0
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Gwata
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130.8
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Kidunda
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161.8
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Kinyanguru
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191.2
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Fuga
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199.3
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Metambwe
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217.0
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Kisaki
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247.1
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Lumango
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274.8
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Pwaga
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Msolwa
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24.1
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Kidatu
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109.5
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315.3
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Katulukilla
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321.2
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Mang’ula
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331.1
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Kiberege
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342.5
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Siginali
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360.0
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Ifakara
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378.7
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Idete
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394.1
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Ruipa
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412.5
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Mbingu
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430.3
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Mngeta
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447.0
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Ikule
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462.1
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Chita
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480.3
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Chisano
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496.1
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Mlimba
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509.1
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Lumumwe
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521.7
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Kimbwe
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534.8
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Mpanga
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555.9
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Kitete
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569.3
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Uchindile
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584.3
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Mgololo
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596.7
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Kiyowela
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621.3
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Kitandililo
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633.8
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Mahongole
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651.5
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Makambako
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671.5
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Wanging’mbe
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690.6
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Kangaga
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704.9
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Rujewa
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720.7
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Msesule
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749.4
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Chimala
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769.4
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Igurusi
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784.4
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Ilongo
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800.3
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Malamba
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810.6
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Lumba
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822.9
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Inyala
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832.9
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Uyole
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848.8
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Mbeya
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860.1
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Mbalizi
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872.1
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Idiga
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|
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890.1
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Chikola
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|
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915.4
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Mlowo
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|
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926.2
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Vwawa
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952.4
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Mpemba
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|
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969.6
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Tunduma
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|
|
|
|
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971.0
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Nakonde
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|
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982.1
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Mwenzo
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|
|
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990.1
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Msanza
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|
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1,008.6
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Kawila
|
|
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1,023.7
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Luchinde
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|
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1,038.0
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Chozi
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|
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1,056.0
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Luchewe
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|
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1,088.0
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Kalulu
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|
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1,103.0
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Makasa
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|
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1,135.9
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Kayaya
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1,151.0
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Chimba
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1,169.0
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Malenge
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1,183.3
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Nseluka
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|
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|
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1,212.8
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Kungu
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1,222.3
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Kasama
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1,264.9
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Nkolemfumu
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|
|
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1,282.4
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Ishitu
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|
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1,315.4
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Chambeshi
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|
|
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1,329.5
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Mpepo
|
|
|
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1,358.9
|
Kasongo
|
|
|
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1,386.6
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Kabuka
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|
|
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1,412.0
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Sabwa
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|
|
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1,424.0
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Mpika
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|
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1,448.1
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Chilonga
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|
|
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1,469.0
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Kapoko
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|
|
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1,493.2
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Kalonje
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|
|
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1,505.8
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Salamo
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|
|
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1,525.9
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Mununga
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|
|
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1,535.4
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Finkuli
|
|
|
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1,559.5
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Lukulu
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|
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1,597.7
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Luslwasi
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|
|
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1,593.5
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Kanona
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|
|
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1,617.0
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Chakalamo
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1,643.8
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Kawaluma
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1,664.2
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Serenje
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1,690.8
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Chisangwa
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1,720.1
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Ndabala
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1,734.9
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Mkushi River
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1,747.6
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Nkolonga
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1,773.0
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Mkushi
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1,792.9
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Ngambwa
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1,817.6
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Lunsemfwa
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1,844.1
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Luanshimba
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1,863.1
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New
Kapiri Mposhi
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The
Tazara Railway
, also called the
Uhuru Railway
or the
Tanzam Railway
, is a
railway
in
East Africa
linking the
port of Dar es Salaam
in east
Tanzania
with the town of
Kapiri Mposhi
in
Zambia
's
Central Province
. The
single-track
railway is 1,860 km (1,160 mi) long and is operated by the
Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority
(TAZARA).
The governments of
Tanzania
,
Zambia
, and the
People's Republic of China
built the railway to eliminate
landlocked
Zambia
's economic dependence on
Rhodesia
and
South Africa
, both of which were ruled by white-minority governments.
[1]
The railway provided the only route for bulk trade from Zambia's
Copperbelt
to reach the sea without having to transit white-ruled territories. The spirit of
Pan-African
socialism
among the leaders of Tanzania and Zambia and the symbolism of China's support for
newly independent African countries
gave rise to Tazara's designation as the "Great Uhuru Railway",
Uhuru
being the
Swahili
word for freedom.
The project was built from 1970 to 1975 as a
turnkey
project financed and supported by China. At its completion, the TAZARA was the longest railway in sub-Saharan Africa.
[2]
TAZARA was also the largest single
foreign-aid project undertaken by China
at the time, at a construction cost of
US $
406 million (the equivalent of
US $
3.19 billion today).
[3]
[4]
TAZARA has faced operational difficulties from the start and was kept running by continued assistance from China, several European countries, and the United States. Freight traffic peaked at 1.2 million tons in 1986, but began to decline in the 1990s as the end of
apartheid
in South Africa and the
independence of Namibia
opened alternative transport routes for Zambian copper. Freight traffic bottomed out at 88,000
metric tons
in
Fiscal Year (FY)
2014/2015, less than 2% of the railway's design capacity of 5 million tonnes per year.
[5]
[6]
In February 2024,
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation
(CCECC) submitted a proposal for the upgrading of the TAZARA to
standard gauge
, as well as for a concession to operate the line, at a cost of $1 billion.
[7]
Route
[
edit
]
Map showing the course of the TAZARA in relation to Tanzania's geography, national parks and game reserves
Running some 1,860 km (1,160 mi) from
Tanzania
's largest city,
Dar es Salaam
, on the coast of the
Indian Ocean
to
Kapiri Mposhi
, near the
Copperbelt
of central
Zambia
, the Tazara is sometimes regarded as the greatest engineering effort of its kind since
World War II
. The railway crosses Tanzania in a southwest direction, leaving the coastal strip and then entering largely uninhabited areas of the vast
Selous Game Reserve
. The line crosses the
Tanzam Highway
at
Makambako
and runs parallel to the highway toward
Mbeya
and the Zambian border, before entering
Zambia
, and linking with
Zambia Railways
at
Kapiri Mposhi
.
The Tazara locomotive passing through the
Selous Game Reserve
From sea level, the railway climbs to 550 metres (1,800 feet) at
Mlimba
, and then reaches its highest point of 1,789.43 m (5,870 ft 10 in) at Uyole in
Mbeya
before descending to 1,660 m (5,450 ft) at Mwenzo, the highest point in Zambia, and settling to 1,274.63 m (4,181 ft 10 in) at Kapiri Mposhi.
[8]
The Tanzanian interior
[
edit
]
Upon leaving the coast, Tazara runs west, through the
Pwani Region
, then dips south of
Mikumi National Park
and enters the wilderness in the northern part of the
Selous Game Reserve
in the
Morogoro Region
. The Selous is one of the largest faunal reserves in the world and passengers can often see wildlife such as
giraffe
,
elephant
,
zebra
,
antelope
and
warthog
, which have become accustomed to the rumbling of the trains.
[9]
The railway crosses the
Great Ruaha River
for the first time in the Selous.
The bridge crossing on the Tazara Railway in Zambia in 2009
Further south, the railway cuts through the fertile
Kilombero Valley
, and skirts the great Kibasira Swamp. The next section, between
Mlimba
(the Kingdom of Elephants) and
Makambako
(the Place of Bulls) was to be 158 km (98 mi) long, and presented the builders of the railway with the greatest challenge. To lay track across rugged mountains, precipitous valleys and deep swamps, it was necessary to construct 46 bridges, 18 tunnels, and 36 culverts.
[10]
Because of the heavy rainfall in this area, intricate drainage works had to be integrated with every feature. The most spectacular feature is the bridge across the Mpanga River, which stands on three 50 m (164 ft) tall
pillars
.
At
Kidatu
, a
metre gauge
branch railway connects to the
Central Line
at
Kilosa
.
The TAZARA then climbs into the
Southern Highlands
of the
Iringa Region
and levels out onto a rolling plateau. Here, in the coffee and tea country of the
Njombe Region
, the weather becomes noticeably cooler, the air sharper. On the approach to
Makambako
, the
Udzungwa Mountains National Park
rise 2,137 m (7,011 ft) to the north, while the
Kipengere Range
roll ahead to the south. Makambako is one of the meeting points of the railway and the Tanzania-Zambia Highway.
From Makambako the railway and the highway run a parallel course towards
Mbeya
running past the
Kipengere Range
that towers to the south. Here in the
Mbeya Region
, the Tazara crosses several upstream tributaries of the Great Ruaha, which are lined with belts of forest and grasslands.
After the Kipengere Mountains, the Uporoto Range takes over with the Usangu Flats stretching to the north. From Mbeya town, both the railway and the highway heads northwest to
Tunduma
where they cross the border into Zambia.
Zambia
[
edit
]
The Tazara enters northeastern Zambia in the
Nakonde District
, in the
Muchinga Province
, and heads southwest to
Kasama
. It then turns due south and crosses the
Chambeshi River
en route to
Mpika
. After entering the
Central Province
, the railway again turns to the southwest, running along the northern foothills of the Muchinga Mountains, past
Serenje
and
Mkushi
to Kapiri Mposhi, located due north of the Zambian capital,
Lusaka
.
Passenger service
[
edit
]
The Tazara Railway Station in
Dar es Salaam
As of February 2016, two passenger trains per week traverse the entire TAZARA in each direction. Departures are on Tuesdays and Fridays in each direction. The brand new Express train travels Fridays from Dar and Tuesdays from New Kapiri Mposhi. The Ordinary train makes all possible stops, and the Express service makes fewer stops
[9]
[11]
The entire journey, as scheduled, takes 36 hours, though delays can extend the trip to as long as 50 hours or more.
[9]
[3]
Trains on the TAZARA are slower than overland bus service but cheaper and safer.
[12]
[9]
The TAZARA trains have attracted foreign tourists wishing to see the landscape and wildlife along route.
[9]
Rovos Rail
of
South Africa
operates the
Pride of Africa
, a
luxury train
, that runs periodic tours from
Cape Town
to Dar es Salaam via the TAZARA.
[13]
The TAZARA tracks are also used for passenger
commuter rail
service between Dar es Salaam and its suburbs. The
Dar es Salaam commuter rail
was launched in 2012 to relieve traffic congestion. The TAZARA offers two routes on its 20.5 km rail network.
[14]
Rail gauge and standards
[
edit
]
The TAZARA has a track gauge of
3 ft 6 in
(
1,067 mm
), also known as the
Cape gauge
, which is widely used throughout southern Africa.
[15]
TAZARA connects to the Cape-gauge
Zambia Railways
at
Kapiri Mposhi
. The
remainder of Tanzania’s railways
have
1,000 mm
(
3 ft
3
+
3
⁄
8
in
)
metre gauge
tracks.
[16]
A
transshipment
station with a
break of gauge
station was built in
Kidatu
in 1998.
[16]
Except for the rail gauge, TAZARA generally reflects Chinese railway standards of the 1970s. The technical characteristics of the line were:
- Couplers:
Janney (AAR)
[17]
- Brakes: Air/vacuum
[18]
- Axle loading: 20 metric tons
[18]
- Sleepers:
Concrete
on main line,
Wood
at turnouts and on bridges
[18]
- Rail: High-manganese steel, 45 kg/m (90 lb/yard), mostly
jointed
[19]
- Signals: Semaphore
- Design speed: 110 km/h (70 mph)
[20]
- Design capacity: 5 million
metric tons
per year
[5]
- Loading gauge: Limited by 22
tunnels
in the
Udzungwa Mountains
Equipment
[
edit
]
Locomotives
[
edit
]
At the moment
[
when?
]
the railway operates three types of locomotives as listed below:
Locomotive on the TAZARA at the Kapiri Mposhi Station in 2012
History
[
edit
]
Origins of the project
[
edit
]
In the late 19th century,
Cecil Rhodes
envisioned a railway from British
Rhodesia
to
Tanganyika
(then
German East Africa
) to carry copper ore.
[2]
After
World War I
, Tanganyika was handed over to the United Kingdom for administration as a
League of Nations Mandate
, and British colonial authorities again explored the idea.
[2]
Still, from the outset, the Western powers refused to construct the Tanzam railway because it would have been unprofitable for Western investors.
[24]
TAZARA train station in
Ifakara
Following World War II, interest in railway construction revived.
[2]
A map from April 1949 in
Railway Gazette
showed a proposed line from
Dar es Salaam
to
Kapiri Mposhi
, not far from the route that would eventually be taken by the Chinese railway.
[25]
A report in 1952 by
Sir Alexander Gibb & Partners
concluded that the Northern Rhodesia-Tanganyika railway was not economically justified, due to the low level of agricultural development and the fact that existing railways through
Mozambique
and
Angola
were adequate for carrying copper exports.
[26]
A
World Bank
report in 1964 projected that only 87,000 tons of cargo would be carried between Zambia and Tanzania by the year 2000, not enough to support a railway, and recommended that a road be built instead.
[27]
: 43
In 1961, Tanganyika
became independent
under the leadership of
Julius Nyerere
, and in 1964 the country joined with Zanzibar to form the
United Republic of Tanzania
. Also in 1964, Northern Rhodesia was
granted independence as Zambia
, under the leadership of
Kenneth Kaunda
. Both Nyerere and Kaunda were charismatic socialist African leaders who supported the self-determination of their African neighbors.
[2]
A railway connecting their two countries would help to develop the agricultural regions of southwestern Tanzania and northeastern Zambia.
[28]
Attempts to secure funding
[
edit
]
Nyerere and Kaunda pursued different avenues for the construction of a rail route. When Nyerere visited
Beijing
in February 1965, he was hesitant to raise the issue of the railway out of concern that China was also a poor country. President
Liu Shaoqi
offered to assist Tanzania and Zambia in building a railway between the two countries.
[3]
[29]
Chairman
Mao Zedong
told Nyerere, "You have difficulties as do we, but our difficulties are different. To help you build the railway, we are willing to forsake building railways for ourselves."
[3]
Chinese leaders assured Nyerere that Tanzania and Zambia would have full ownership of the completed railway, along with transferred technology and equipment.
[29]
Nyerere did not immediately accept the Chinese offer but sought to use it to induce Western backing for the railway, but none was forthcoming.
[30]
He did, however, accept a team of Chinese
surveyors
, who produced a short report in October 1966.
Kaunda was wary of Communist involvement and wanted to maintain friendly ties with Britain. He turned down an offer from the Chinese Embassy in Lusaka to build the railway. In addition, Zambia and Rhodesia were joint owners of the Zambian Railway, and the joint ownership agreement would penalize Zambia for diverting traffic to other railways. A Canadian-British aerial survey was commissioned and conducted by chief engineer
John Leslie Charles
,
[31]
concluding in a July 1966 report that the line was "feasible and economic" based on a predicted 2.5 million tons of traffic, with an estimated construction cost of £126 million ($353 million). Western funding was not, however, forthcoming,
[32]
as Britain, Japan, West Germany, World Bank, the United States and United Nations all declined to fund the project.
[2]
[33]
The Soviet Union was also uninterested.
[33]
Chinese support
[
edit
]
The TAZARA station at
Makambako
At the time, China was actively seeking diplomatic support in the Third World against the United States and Soviet Union. Trade Minister
Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu
and other ministers from Zanzibar were instrumental in lobbying Chinese leaders for support and then persuading Nyerere to accept the assistance.
[34]
British prime minister
Harold Wilson
, after seeing Tanzania's pro-China attitude at the 1965
Commonwealth Prime Ministers' Conference
, claimed that many of Nyerere's ministers were "directly in the Chinese pay."
[35]
Canadian prime minister
Lester Pearson
also questioned whether Nyerere should get so close to the Chinese.
[36]
Nyerere later complained that Western nations opposed the Chinese plans for the railway, but did not offer him any alternative.
[37]
"... all the money in this world is either Red or Blue. I do not have my own Green money, so where can I get some from? I am not taking a cold war position. All I want is money to build it."
?
Julius Nyerere, PRO, DO183/730, from Dar es Salaam to CRO, No. 1089, 3 July 1965
In November 1965,
Southern Rhodesia
's white-led colonial government issued its
Unilateral Declaration of Independence
from Britain, threatening Zambia's access to the sea. In the first months after UDI, supplies had to be airlifted to Zambia or transported 1,600 km (1,000 mi) by road.
[38]
Nyerere warned
Humphry John Berkeley
, a British politician who served as the economic consultant for the Canadian-British survey team, that "The West must hurry, because the Chinese are going ahead." Yet, when Berkeley met with Harold Wilson, the British prime minister assured him that "The Chinese have not got the money to build the railway."
[39]
Finally, Kaunda dropped his objections and accepted the Chinese offer while visiting China in January 1967.
[40]
[41]
On 6 September 1967, an agreement was signed in Beijing by the three nations. China committed itself to building a railway between Tanzania and Zambia, supplying an interest-free loan of RMB988 million (approx. US$406 million) to be repaid between 1973 and 2013.
[3]
[4]
This was part of China’s larger policy of giving unilateral aid to developing nations during the 1960s and 1970s, which strengthened after Premier Zhou Enlai visited Africa in 1964 and declared the continent "ripe for revolution."
[42]
[43]
The West reacted to Chinese backing for the project with both derision and alarm. Critics questioned the construction quality and competence of the Chinese, calling the TAZARA the "bamboo railway".
[33]
The West also voiced concerns about a potential loss of Tanzanian sovereignty, which were worsened when both Tanzania and Zambia signed trade agreements favorable to Beijing. One caveat of this agreement allowed Beijing to flood Tanzanian and Zambian markets with surplus goods, which harmed local businesses despite the overall boost to the economy that would be provided by the railway.
[43]
[44]
[45]
The
Wall Street Journal
stated in 1967, "the prospects of hundreds and perhaps thousands of Red Guards descending upon an already troubled Africa is a chilling one for the West."
[46]
The United States funded the
Tanzam Highway
, which was built from 1968 to 1973, to compete with the railway.
[47]
As the projects proceeded in parallel, Chinese and American workers clashed at the
Great Ruaha River
bridge in 1970.
[48]
Construction
[
edit
]
Mbeya
station on the Tazara Railway
Before the railway construction began, 12 Chinese surveyors traveled for nine months on foot from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya in the Southern Highlands to choose and align the railway's path. Chinese workers had already begun arriving in 1969, and construction began in July 1970.
[4]
A formal inauguration ceremony was held on 26 October 1970, where the band played
Sailing the Seas Depends on the Helmsman
and marchers held signs saying, "The Uhuru line will fight Imperialism".
[49]
Chinese assistance was provided in large part by the Railway Engineering Corps of the
People’s Liberation Army
(predecessor of
China Railway Construction Corporation
) and the foreign aid department of the
Ministry of Railways
(predecessor of
China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation
).
[50]
Chinese personnel sent to Africa were selected for political dependability, moral probity, technical expertise and personal fitness, and underwent as much as two months of training.
[51]
Chinese assistance followed the country's socialist ethos, a labor-intensive model instead of the Western capital-intensive model.
[52]
In total, China sent about 50,000 personnel to work on the railway from 1965 to 1976, including 30,000 to 40,000 workers.
[53]
An estimated 60,000 Africans participated in the railway's construction.
[53]
At the height of construction in 1972, there were 13,500 Chinese and 38,000 African workers on the project.
[54]
Chinese engineers lived and worked according to the same standards as their African counterparts.
[2]
[52]
Construction camps were set up for each 64-kilometre (40 mi) section of track, being relocated as the work progressed.
Papaya
and
banana
trees were grown to provide shade and food, and workers tended vegetable gardens in the camps on off-hours.
[55]
The work involved moving 330,000 tons of rail and 89 million cubic meters of earth and rock, and the construction of 93 stations, 320 bridges, 22 tunnels and 2,225 culverts.
[51]
[56]
Virtually all building materials, equipment and significant amounts of food and medical supplies were shipped from China.
[51]
According to Du Jian, a Chinese interpreter, China "shipped out more than 1.5 million tonnes of materials, including steel rail, cement, and dynamite, and daily necessities, even though it suffered itself a dire shortage of all commodities."
[43]
Braving rain, sun and wind, the workers laid the track through some of Africa's wildest and most rugged landscapes. One Chinese worker recalled that his team was trapped in the wilderness for a week after floods and landslides washed away the only connecting road.
[51]
"We lived in fear of
lions
and
hyenas
."
[51]
Another interviewee stated that conditions were often so bad that "[s]ometimes we had to drink the water that we found in the elephants' footprints."
[2]
Medical care was so lacking that one Chinese worker died due to an untreated bee sting.
[57]
Over 160 workers, including 64 Chinese nationals, died in construction accidents.
[56]
However, construction accidents were not the only cause of death. Food for Chinese workers was sent from China, and shipping delays often meant that the food, typically nothing more than dehydrated vegetables and other basic goods like wheat flour, was moldy when it arrived, causing working conditions to become even more dire.
[43]
The Mpanga River Bridge and tunnel
The section from
Mlimba
to Makambako crosses mountains and steep valleys. Almost 30 percent of the bridges, tunnels, viaducts, and earthworks of the entire route are located a 16-kilometre (10 mi) stretch of this section. The bridge across the
Mpanga River
is 49 metres (160 ft) in height, and the
Irangi Number 3 Tunnel
is
2.4 km (
1
+
1
⁄
2
mi) long. After the work crews reached Zambia at the end of 1972, the terrain became much easier, and the track-laying machine could advance 3 km (2 mi) per day
[58]
The project pressed forward despite the enormous upheaval in China caused by the
Cultural Revolution
, during which most domestic railway projects were delayed as many government officials were purged. President Liu Shaoqi, who had made the offer to President Nyerere in 1965, was removed from power in 1966, publicly vilified and died in 1969. In Tanzania, Abdulrahman Mohamed Babu, who had persuaded the Chinese to back the TAZARA, was sentenced to death in 1972 for allegedly plotting to overthrow the Zanzibar government. He was pardoned by Nyerere in 1978.
The first passenger train arrived in Dar es Salaam on 24 October 1975,
[59]
the 11th anniversary of
Zambia's independence from Great Britain
.
Initial difficulties
[
edit
]
The TAZARA has been a major economic conduit in the region notwithstanding operating difficulties from the start and never reaching its design capacity of 5 million metric tons. In the first two years of operation, TAZARA carried over 1.1 million metric tons of cargo annually. The diesel hydraulic locomotives sent by the Chinese were insufficiently powerful to haul heavy loads up the steep escarpment between Mlimba and Makambako, limiting the line's carrying capacity.
[33]
When the Chinese rolling stock broke down, there was limited local capacity for repair.
[33]
By 1978, 19 to 27 of the locomotives were out of operation, as were half of the rail cars.
[60]
The new
Kapiri Mposhi
Station in 2009
The railway was also beset with staff difficulties. In their haste to complete the railway, the Chinese did not train enough African technicians to take over management of the railway.
[33]
In 1972, two hundred Tanzanian and Zambian students were enrolled in the
Northern Jiaotong University
in Beijing to learn railway management, but a dozen of them were expelled in the first year for misbehavior.
[27]
: 99
Employee theft was so common that 20 Zambian crew members were fired in 1978 for stealing, drivers were brought back from China for a return run, and hundreds of other Chinese advisers had their stay extended.
[60]
These problems resulted in much lengthier than planned turnaround times for freight, and in 1978 Zambia had to break ranks and reopen links with white-ruled Rhodesia for its copper exports.
[61]
TAZARA played an important role in the black nationalist struggles of the late 1970s and 1980s. The railway served as a trade route for Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Malawi that did not pass through apartheid South Africa, or Angola or Mozambique, which were embroiled in civil wars with South African-backed proxies.
[20]
During
Zimbabwe's struggle for independence
, the white Rhodesian government targeted
ZIPRA
's supply lines from Tanzania.
[62]
Rhodesian forces also attacked and destroyed three bridges; the Chambeshi River Bridge was blown up by the
Selous Scouts
in 1979 and required one year to reconstruct.
[63]
[20]
As a result of these difficulties, cargo transport fell below 800,000 tons per annum from 1979/80 to 1982/83. In addition, landslides and washouts frequently disrupted service, especially during the rainy seasons of 1979 and 1985/86.
[33]
[63]
Foreign support in the 1980s
[
edit
]
The interior of the New Kapiri Mposhi Station in October 2012
In 1983, Tanzania and Zambia invited the Chinese back to help manage the railway.
[64]
About 250 Chinese managers were assigned to railway bureaus along the route.
[64]
They brought operational profitability to the railway and paid for their expenses through revenues, but China had to issue additional zero-interest loans to pay for spare parts and rehabilitation.
[64]
From 1987 to 1993, foreign aid totaling $150 million was supplied by the
European Economic Community
, Austria, Denmark, Finland, France, West Germany, Norway, Sweden, and Switzerland.
[65]
In 1987, the United States also joined in the donor efforts to improve the TAZARA and reduce the dependency of "frontline states" on South Africa.
[66]
[63]
[67]
A 1987 report commissioned for the
USAID
identified inadequate motive power and poor equipment maintenance as constraints to operational capacity.
[66]
The report found TAZARA mechanics to be poorly trained and supervised, many being illiterate, and faced with the need to maintain a diverse set of equipment from different donor countries.
[66]
The USAID then funded a $50 million program over seven years, providing locomotives, facilities, and training.
[63]
Equipment repairs would only "reduce some short-range problems", and the report highlighted the need to address "underlying causes", such as the locomotive workshops lacking basic supplies, and less than 20% of employees at the locomotive workshops being engaged in actual work.
[66]
Thanks to support from foreign donors, the cargo transported annually by TAZARA increased from 1.0 to 1.9 million metric tons in 1986 to 1991. The locomotive availability rate rose from 46% to 65%, and wagon turnaround time was reduced from 35 days to 20 days.
[63]
Passenger traffic on the railway rebounded from 564,000 in the FY1982/83 to 1.6 million in FY1990/91.
[63]
[20]
[33]
Local goods accounted for nearly half of the cargo shipped on the line between 1985 and 1988.
[33]
Decline
[
edit
]
Photos taken in Oct. 2012
In the 1990s, the economic performance of the railway began to decline with changes to the broader economic and political environment. With the independence of
Namibia
in 1990 and multiracial elections in
South Africa
in 1994, southern Africa was no longer dominated by white minority governments, and Zambian copper had more economic outlets to the south and east. Road transport provided competition in the form of the
Trans?Caprivi Highway
and the
Walvis Bay
Corridor to
Namibia
.
The
privatization
of Zambia's copper mines forced railways in Zambia to compete for previously guaranteed government cargo.
[68]
Traffic on
Zambian Railways
fell from 6 million tonnes in 1975 to 690,000 tonnes in 2009. TAZARA suffered an even greater drop in traffic.
In the early 2000s, the end of civil wars in
Angola
and
Mozambique
opened further rail outlets for Zambian copper.
[69]
[70]
In 2008, the railway's condition was described as being "on the verge of collapse due to financial crisis," and dangerous track conditions were discovered by Chinese technicians inspecting the line.
[71]
The company's cash flow difficulties have led to delays in paying salaries, resulting in frequent strikes by the workforce.
[72]
By 2012, TAZARA had only 10 operational main line locomotives.
[73]
In September 2013, the TAZARA was reporting $1.53 million in monthly revenue against $2.5 million in monthly expenditures.
[12]
Attempts at revitalization
[
edit
]
The railway is sometimes described as an economic "lifeline" for Zambia and the government in Lusaka has ostensibly remained committed to its revitalization.
[12]
In April 2013, Zambia’s second largest copper miner, Konkola Copper Mines, agreed to re-commence shipping copper on the TAZARA after a five-year hiatus.
[74]
By November 2013, the line was reportedly shipping 15,000 tons of copper weekly, but still prone to breakdowns and delays.
[74]
In addition to carrying copper,
manganese
,
cobalt
and other minerals for export, the TAZARA also transports Asian imports and
fertilizer
to Zambia,
Congo
,
Malawi
,
Burundi
, and
Rwanda
.
[12]
The Chinese government has also been unwilling to see the complete shutdown of its signature foreign aid project. In 2011, China cancelled half of the debts it was owed by the TAZARA.
[12]
Since the loan was interest-free and not indexed for inflation, the
real value
of the debt had also shrunk by more than 80%.
[a]
Additional Chinese aid has kept TAZARA in a state of minimal operation. In 2010, the Chinese government gave TAZARA a US$39 million interest-free loan,
[75]
[76]
but TAZARA management estimated that it would require US$770 million to become commercially viable.
[77]
In 2012, the Chinese government gave another $42 million for equipment and training.
[73]
In March 2014, Tanzanian, Zambian and Chinese officials held talks to recapitalize the TAZARA and to split it into a Tanzanian company and a Zambian company.
[78]
The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority took delivery in 2015 of four diesel-electric locomotives and 18 coaches from China. TAZARA’s Dar es Salaam workshop has also begun a programme to refurbish 24 out-of-use coaches.
[79]
In FY2014/15, freight traffic fell to 88,000
metric tons
in
Fiscal Year (FY)
but rebounded to 130,000 tons in FY2015/16.
[80]
The growth continued further, reaching 210,161 tons in FY2021/2022.
[81]
In 2018, TAZARA and South African firm Calabash Freight reached an agreement for the latter to use the line in order to maximise line utilization.
[82]
In FY2018/19, total utilization reached 362,710 tons.
[83]
Standard Gauge Railway
[
edit
]
On August 3, 2022, during a state visit by Zambian president
Hakainde Hichilema
to Tanzania, the presidents of both nations issued a joint statement to launch a new project to revitalize the railway and build to
standard gauge
through a
public-private partnership
.
[84]
In August 2023, officials from both countries agreed to ask the
government of China
to put forward a comprehensive proposal for the revitalization of the TAZARA line and its upgrade to standard gauge. China is seeking a concession to operate the railway.
[85]
In November 2023, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) was shortlisted to submit a proposal for the concession.
[86]
The following month, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority announced an inspection of the railway line to be carried out by CCECC experts with the aim of assessing its operational and business model, and setting the stage for the submission by CCECC of an optimized TAZARA revitalization proposal. The 11-member team was led by the managing director of the
Addis Abeba-Djibouti Railway
.
[87]
April 2024 has been set as the target for the completion of TAZARA revitalization discussions.
[87]
In February 2024, the Chinese ambassador to Zambia presented the Zambian transport minister with CCECC's proposal to revamp the TAZARA at a cost of $1 billion.
[7]
[88]
Statistics
[
edit
]
Freight volume
Year
| metric tons
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
1977
| 1,135,000
| ?
|
---|
1978
| 1,273,000
| +12.16%
|
---|
1979
| 923,000
| ?27.49%
|
---|
1980
| 790,000
| ?14.41%
|
---|
1981
| 752,000
| ?4.81%
|
---|
1982
| 796,000
| +5.85%
|
---|
1983
| 824,000
| +3.52%
|
---|
1984
| 973,000
| +18.08%
|
---|
1985
| 1,096,000
| +12.64%
|
---|
1986
| 984,000
| ?10.22%
|
---|
| Year
| metric tons
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
1987
| 1,221,000
| +24.09%
|
---|
1988
| 1,204,000
| ?1.39%
|
---|
1989
| 1,075,000
| ?10.71%
|
---|
1991
| 1,011,823
| ?2.98%
|
---|
2007
| 538,500
| ?3.87%
|
---|
2008
| 527,600
| ?2.02%
|
---|
2009
| 383,000
| ?27.41%
|
---|
2010
| 523,000
| +36.55%
|
---|
2014
| 203,538
| ?21.02%
|
---|
2015
| 88,000
| ?56.76%
|
---|
| Year
| metric tons
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
2016
| 130,000
| +47.73%
|
---|
2017
| 171,000
| +31.54%
|
---|
2018
| 220,818
| +29.13%
|
---|
2019
| 362,710
| +64.26%
|
---|
2020
| 378,978
| +4.49%
|
---|
2021
| | ?
|
---|
2022
| | ?
|
---|
2023
| | ?
|
---|
2024
| | ?
|
---|
2025
| | ?
|
---|
| Year
| metric tons
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
2026
| | ?
|
---|
2027
| | ?
|
---|
2028
| | ?
|
---|
2029
| | ?
|
---|
2030
| | ?
|
---|
2031
| | ?
|
---|
2032
| | ?
|
---|
2033
| | ?
|
---|
2034
| | ?
|
---|
2035
| | ?
|
---|
|
Source: FY1977/78 to FY1988/89;
[89]
FY2006/07 to FY2009/10;
[90]
FY2014/15;
[6]
FY2013/14
[91]
FY2015/16;
[80]
FY2016/17 to FY2019/20
[83]
|
Passenger volume
Year
| thousands
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
1977
| 826
| ?
|
---|
1978
| 1,134
| +37.29%
|
---|
1979
| 1,312
| +15.70%
|
---|
1980
| 1,397
| +6.48%
|
---|
1981
| 1,024
| ?26.70%
|
---|
1982
| 987
| ?3.61%
|
---|
1983
| 564
| ?42.86%
|
---|
1984
| 1,198
| +112.41%
|
---|
1985
| 1,065
| ?11.10%
|
---|
1986
| 1,161
| +9.01%
|
---|
1987
| 1,335
| +14.99%
|
---|
1988
| 1,400
| +4.87%
|
---|
1989
| 1,677
| +19.79%
|
---|
1990
| | ?
|
---|
| Year
| thousands
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
1991
| | ?
|
---|
1992
| | ?
|
---|
1993
| | ?
|
---|
1994
| | ?
|
---|
1995
| | ?
|
---|
1996
| | ?
|
---|
1997
| | ?
|
---|
1998
| | ?
|
---|
1999
| | ?
|
---|
2000
| | ?
|
---|
2001
| | ?
|
---|
2002
| | ?
|
---|
2003
| | ?
|
---|
2004
| | ?
|
---|
| Year
| thousands
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
2005
| | ?
|
---|
2006
| | ?
|
---|
2007
| | ?
|
---|
2008
| | ?
|
---|
2009
| | ?
|
---|
2010
| | ?
|
---|
2011
| | ?
|
---|
2012
| | ?
|
---|
2013
| | ?
|
---|
2014
| | ?
|
---|
2015
| | ?
|
---|
2016
| | ?
|
---|
2017
| | ?
|
---|
2018
| | ?
|
---|
| Year
| thousands
| ±% p.a.
|
---|
2019
| 3,000
| ?
|
---|
2020
| 2,800
| ?6.67%
|
---|
2021
| | ?
|
---|
2022
| | ?
|
---|
2023
| | ?
|
---|
2024
| | ?
|
---|
2025
| | ?
|
---|
2026
| | ?
|
---|
2027
| | ?
|
---|
2028
| | ?
|
---|
2029
| | ?
|
---|
2030
| | ?
|
---|
|
Source: FY1977/78 to FY1988/89;
[89]
FY2019/20
[83]
|
Social impact
[
edit
]
The TAZARA has had a strong impact on the rural regions along route. In the 1970s, the Tanzanian government resettled villagers into
ujamaa
villages that were near the railway.
[33]
The villages were tasked with providing security for the railway against foreign sabotage.
[92]
As the Tanzanian economy liberalized in the 1990s, the villagers began to use the railway to trade local produce.
[33]
However, this impact was not entirely positive. Many rural households relocated to be closer to the new railway were forced to do so, and the government failed to compensate farmers for crops lost in construction for years after the railway was finished.
[93]
[43]
Vendors selling items to passengers on the Mukuba Express Train
The railway also enabled settlers to move to the fertile
Kilombero River Valley
, between
Mbeya
and
Kidatu
, to grow cash crops such as rice and vegetables that they can readily ship to other communities.
[33]
As the TAZARA traverses diverse ecosystems, it facilitates trade in local produce across previously isolated communities, including maize, beans and vegetables from the highlands of Makambako, rice from
Ifakara
, oranges from Mlimba, and bananas from Mngeta and Idete.
[33]
The TAZARA ran the
kipsi
shuttle trains in the "passenger belt" of southern Tanzania to serve the region.
[33]
Many settlements have grown into large towns and districts.
[94]
The TAZARA also spurred other large-scale economic developments in the region, including a
hydroelectric power plant at Kidatu
and a paper mill at
Rufiji
.
The TAZARA Railway Authority has also become a large state employer. In 40 years of operation, as many as one million people have been employed by the railway.
[94]
Chinese involvement has also been credited for increasing the opportunities of women to enter male-dominated jobs such as
train driver
.
[95]
Legacy
[
edit
]
Zambian TAZARA staff in Kapiri Mposhi in 2012
The TAZARA remains an enduring symbol of the solidarity of the developing world and Chinese support for African independence and development. When Beijing hosted the
2008 Summer Olympic Games
, the starting point of the
torch relay
in Tanzania was the grand terminal of the TAZARA.
[96]
It is seen in China as a ‘pinnacle of the kind of struggle, hardship, and “glorious achievement" of the Mao era.
[2]
The difficulties with TAZARA made the Chinese government wary about funding other rail projects in Africa. China would not complete another new
main line railway
in Africa for another 41 years. A new era in Chinese railway construction in Africa began in 2016?2017 with the inauguration of the
Abuja?Kaduna Railway
in Nigeria, the
Addis Ababa?Djibouti Railway
in Ethiopia and Djibouti, and the
Mombasa?Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway
in Kenya. To avoid repeating the problems of TAZARA, the Chinese government took measures to limit the financial and operational risk of the new railways. TAZARA had been 100% funded by an interest-free loan from China, but the new railways were financed through interest-bearing loans and required the recipient government to supply
matching funds
.
[97]
TAZARA had been handed over immediately to the Tanzanian and Zambian governments, but most of the new railways were concessioned to Chinese operating companies for the first 3?5 years.
[98]
[99]
See also
[
edit
]
Maps
[
edit
]
- ^
$406 million in 1970 was the equivalent of
US $
2.35 billion in 2011
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Thomas W. Robinson and David L. Shambaugh.
Chinese Foreign Policy: theory and practice
, 1994. Page 287.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
Brautigam 2010
: 40
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
(Chinese)
?者重走我?援建的坦??路:年久失修常?点 新?社-瞭望?方周刊
2010-08-04
- ^
a
b
c
"Tanzania-Zambia Railway: a Bridge to China?"
.
New York Times
. 29 January 1971.
- ^
a
b
"Services"
.
Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority
. Retrieved
27 March
2015
.
With a designed capacity of five (5) million tonnes of freight per annum ...
- ^
a
b
"Tazara's new CEO pledges to revive Chinese-built railway line"
.
Xinhuanet
. Xinhua News Agency. Archived from
the original
on 3 July 2016.
- ^
a
b
Kubwa, M. (11 February 2024).
"$1 Billion Chinese Tazara Revamp Proposal Issued"
.
Construction Review
. Retrieved
13 February
2024
.
- ^
Route Map & Profile Tazarasite.com
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Philip Briggs,
Tanzania: With Zanzibar, Pemba and Mafia
Bradt Travel Guides, 2009
ISBN
1841622885
P. 475
- ^
Meandering through inhospitable terrainsTazarasite.com
- ^
"Adjustment to the passenger train running schedules - TAZARA"
. 4 February 2016
. Retrieved
11 January
2017
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
Amy Fallon, "Throwing the Tanzania-Zambia Railway a Lifeline" IPS
2013-12-11
- ^
"Luxury Train Club - Pride of Africa Rovos Rail"
. 25 June 2012
. Retrieved
11 January
2017
.
- ^
Kolumbia, Louis (29 October 2012).
"Dar train services begin"
.
The Citizen (Tanzania)
. Archived from
the original
on 1 March 2014
. Retrieved
4 December
2013
.
- ^
"Services"
.
Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority
. Retrieved
27 March
2015
.
The TAZARA railway line is designed with a 1067mm-gauge, which allows through traffic operations with other Southern African railways, such as Spoornet of South Africa, Botswana Railways, National Railways of Zimbabwe, Zambia Railways Limited Namibia Railways, Mozambique Railways and Societe Nationale Des Chemins De Fer Du Congo Sarl (SNCC) of the DRC.
- ^
a
b
"
"Types of Gauges & Links" Tazarasite.com"
. Archived from
the original
on 15 April 2014
. Retrieved
19 April
2014
.
- ^
Railways Africa
2008/1 p8
- ^
a
b
c
"East African Railways Master Plan"
. Retrieved
13 April
2012
.
- ^
"TAZARA Expansion Project Brief"
(PDF)
.
Tripartite and IGAD Investment Conference, 28?29 September 2011, Nairobi
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Harden, Blaine (7 July 1987).
"The Little Railroad that Could"
.
The Washington Post
.
- ^
Batwell, John (6 March 2014).
"Tazara orders more Chinese locomotives"
. International Railway Journal.
TANZANIA-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) has awarded CSR Qishuyan Locomotive Company, China, a contract worth US$12.5m to supply four additional type SDD20 diesel locomotives for use on its 1860km line between Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania, and New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.
- ^
a
b
"TAZARA, Chinese firm sign pact for four locomotives"
. Lusaka Voice. 1 March 2014.
TAZARA now has a fleet of about 16 mainline locomotives at its disposal, six of the SDD20 were acquired recently while the remaining 10 were the old Diesel Electric U30C Locomotives aged over 25 years whose reliability has reduced drastically due to overuse and lack of maintenance.
- ^
"Types of Freight and Vehicles"
.
Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority
. Retrieved
27 March
2015
.
The CK6 diesel locomotive is a diesel-hydraulic locomotive manufactured for TAZARA by CSR Chengdu Co, Ltd of China. ... It is suitable for the shunting and transfer services only.
- ^
Brun, Ellen; Hersh, Jacques (2011). "2, footnote 25".
Socialist Korea: A Case Study of Historical Development
. Monthly Review Press. pp. 64?5.
- ^
Hall & Peyman 1976
: 31
- ^
Hall & Peyman 1976
: 32
- ^
a
b
Bailey, Martin (1976).
Freedom Railway: China and the Tanzania-Zambia Link
. London:
Rex Collings
.
ISBN
0860360245
.
- ^
"How it all began" Tazarasite.com
- ^
a
b
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 9
- ^
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 9-10
- ^
Charles, John L.
Westward Go Young Man: The Reminiscences of Les Charles,
(CNAC Consultants, 1978)
- ^
Hall & Peyman 1976
: 87?88
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
Jamie Monson, "Freedom Railway: The unexpected successes of a Cold War development project"
Boston Review
2004-12-01
- ^
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 6
- ^
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 16
- ^
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 16-17
- ^
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 22-23
- ^
Hall and Peyman, p. 85
- ^
Hall and Peyman, p. 80
- ^
Altorfer-Ong 2009
: PDF 24
- ^
Hall and Peyman, p.98
- ^
Brautigam, Deborah (2009).
The dragon's gift: the real story of China in Africa
. Oxford New York: Oxford University Press. p. 37.
ISBN
978-0-19-955022-7
.
- ^
a
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Sources
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External links
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