China, Zambia, and Tanzania have finalized a $1.4 billion deal to overhaul the Tanzania–Zambia Railway, a crucial export route for southern Africa’s copper industry. Zambia’s government confirmed the agreement on Monday, according to Reuters.
Originally constructed in the 1970s with Chinese financing and engineering support under Mao Zedong, the 1,860-kilometre (1,160-mile) line, known as Tazara, has since deteriorated and now operates at a fraction of its original capacity.
Under the terms of the new agreement, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation will take on a 30-year concession.
The first three years will be dedicated to reconstruction, track rehabilitation, safety improvements, and restoring the railway. The remaining 27 years will cover full operational management, including procurement and upkeep of rolling stock.
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The project includes the purchase of 32 new locomotives, around 762 wagons and passenger coaches, as well as the development of modern maintenance workshops, upgraded signalling and communication systems, and training programs for staff.
Beijing had already signed a preliminary accord last year to support Tazara’s revival, even as the United States and the European Union backed a competing transport corridor centered on Angola’s Lobito port.
Once modernized, the railway is expected to provide landlocked copper producers with a vital alternative to South Africa’s congested ports and strained border crossings, where surging exports from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo have led to severe traffic bottlenecks.
Tazara’s revival will also put it in direct competition with the U.S.- and EU-supported Lobito corridor, which links the same copper-rich region to the Atlantic Ocean via Angola’s west coast.
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Image Credit: Discovery Alert
