China To Revitalize The Train Line Connecting Tanzania-Zambia For 1,860 Kilometers

The railroad bridge that crosses the Mpanga River in Tanzania. (Wikimedia Commons/David Brossard)

JAKARTA - China, Tanzania, and Zambia signed an initial agreement to revitalize the decades-old railway line, to increase rail-sea transportation in resource-rich eastern Africa, Chinese state media said Wednesday.

President Xi Jinping witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding regarding the repair of the 1.860 km (156-mile) railway line of the Tanzanian-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) with Presidents Tanzania and Zambia, who are in Beijing to attend the China-African Cooperation Forum, according to state news agency Xinhua.

The TAZARA single railway line was built between 1970 and 1975 via interest-free loans from China. This relationship is used for cargo transportation routes from copper mines and Zambia cobalt into the sea on Tanzania's coast that passes South Africa and the former state of Rhodesia.

The line's commercial operation, which at that time was ridiculed by several Western governments as "bamboo train tracks", began in 1976.

The project, which lasted for several years, involved the construction of two dozen tunnels and hundreds of bridges by tens of thousands of Chinese and African workers.

"China is willing to make this summit an opportunity to make new progress in revitalizing the Tanzania-Zambia railway line, working together to improve the inter-sea rail-modal transportation network in East Africa, and building Tanzania into a demonstration zone to deepen high-quality Chinese-African Belt and Road cooperation," Xi said, according to state media.

Earlier this year, the World Bank approved financing USD 270 million to help increase connectivity between two neighboring countries, Tanzania and Zambia and increase regional trade.

In February, Beijing proposed support of $1 billion to rehabilitate railway lines through a public-private partnership model.