TAZARA Railway
The TAZARA Railway (also called the Uhuru Railway, from the Swahili word for Freedom, and the Tanzam Railway) was built in the 1970s by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (abbreviated to 'TAZARA') to serve landlocked Zambia as an alternative to rail lines via apartheid-controlled Rhodesia and South Africa.
Construction
The railroad was a turn-key project financed and executed by the People's Republic of China (PRC). Construction was started in 1970 and operation commenced six years later. The line starts at the port of Dar-es-Salaam and crosses Tanzania in a south-west direction. It was built through a rather uninhabited area. Later there has been industrial development along the line, a Hydroelectric powerplant at Kidatu and a paper mill at Rufiji. The line then crosses the TAN-ZAM highway at Makambako and runs parallel toward Mbeya and the Zambian border, enters Zambia, and links to Zambia Railways at Kapiri Mposhi. Total length is 1,860 km and the final altitude is 1,400m.
Total costs were about 500 million dollars, making it the largest foreign-aid project ever undertaken by the PRC.
Connection to other systems
The gauge is 1.067m to match Zambia Railways. Zambia Railways are connected to Zimbabwe, and South Africa, so that TAZARA is a point of access to the railroad systems of Central and Southern Africa. There is a break-of-gauge with the 1.000m Tanzania Railways Corporation system at the port of Dar-es-Salaam. A transhipment station is under construction at Kidatu.
Under discussion is an extension to the great lakes with connections to Burundi and Rwanda.[1]
Towns served by TAZARA
- Kapiri Mposhi, link to Zambia Railways
- Serenje
- Mpika
- Kasama, Zambia
- Tunduma, Tanzania
- Mbeya
- Mlimba
- Ifakara
- Kidatu
- Dar-es-Salaam
Significance
Built to provide a strategic route to the sea for Zambia and for political reasons to foster an alliance between decolonized African states and the PRC and to undermine the power of apartheid and colonial governments upon whose railways Zambia had been dependent for sea-access, the TAZARA has been a major economic conduit in the region. However, it has never been profitable and more recently it has suffered from competition from road transport (such as the Transcaprivi Highway and Walvis Bay Corridor to Namibia) and the re-orientation of Zambia's economic links towards South Africa after the end of apartheid.[1] See following section.
It is ironic that the TAZARA closes a missing link in the envisioned Cape-Cairo railway of Cecil Rhodes.
The Future of TAZARA
In 2005, the governments of Tanzania and Zambia agreed to privatise TAZARA, due to a serious fall in traffic from 1.2mT in 1990 to 630kT in 2003 and a need for $25m worth of locomotive repairs.
Officials of the governments opened meetings on April 20 2006. While the method of privatization was not determined at that time, officials stated that Chinese interests may be given priority due to their previous involvement in the railway. [2]
It was reported that a decision may be made in February 2007.[3]
See also
"TAZARA" is the name of the latest novel by Klaus Juergen Schmidt who lives in Africa for more than 20 years. The plot will see the emergence of ordinary and famous passengers in a fictitious meeting on this train, debating history and future of African life and of foreign interference. The author is inviting travellers to join him on the real TAZARA-express for a journey, developing with him the continuation of his story whilst they are passing through the real life of Africa. [2]
References
- ^ Seat 61 website accessed 20 February 2007
- ^ Edwin, Wilfred (2006-04-23). "Tanzania, Zambia in talks over sale of joint railway". The East African. Retrieved 2006-04-27.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|year=(help); Cite has empty unknown parameter:|1=(help)CS1 maint: year (link) - ^ Railways Africa website accessed 20 February 2007.