TAZARA Railway

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The TAZARA Railway (also called the Uhuru Railway, from the Swahili word for Freedom, and the Tanzam Railway) was built between 1970 and 1975 by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (abbreviated to 'TAZARA') to serve landlocked Zambia as an alternative to rail lines via Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe) and South Africa.[1]

Contents

[edit] Construction

General Electric U30C locomotive at Mlimba station
General Electric U30C locomotive at Mlimba station

The railroad was a turnkey project financed and executed by the People's Republic of China. 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 passes through a largely uninhabited area. Since the line opened, there has been industrial development along the line, including a hydroelectric power plant at Kidatu and a paper mill at Rufiji. The line 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 kilometers (1,156 mi) and the final altitude is 1,400 m.

Total costs were about US $500 million, making it the largest foreign-aid project ever undertaken by China.

[edit] Connection to other systems

The gauge is 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) 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 was originally no connection with the 1,000 mm (3 ft 3⅜ in) Tanzania Railways Corporation system at the port of Dar-es-Salaam. A transshipment station has existed at the break of gauge station of Kidatu since 1998.

TAZARA train station in Ifakara
TAZARA train station in Ifakara

[edit] Standards

  • TAZARA uses the American style AAR coupling. [2]
  • TAZARA use Air/Vacuum brakes ??

There are 22 tunnels in the Udzunga Mountains which limit the loading gauge.

[edit] Towns served by TAZARA

[edit] Significance

The PRC government sponsored construction of the railway specifically to eliminate Zambia's economic dependence on Rhodesia and South Africa.[1] 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.[3] See following section.

It is ironic that the TAZARA closes a missing link in the envisioned Cape-Cairo railway of Cecil Rhodes.

[edit] Future of TAZARA

In 2005 the governments of Tanzania and Zambia agreed to privatize 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.[4]

A decision may be made in February 2007.[5]

Under discussion is an extension to the great lakes with connections to Burundi and Rwanda.[1]


[edit] See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:

[edit] References

  1. ^ a b Thomas W. Robinson and David L. Shambaugh. Chinese Foreign Policy: theory and practice, 1994. Page 287.
  2. ^ RailwaysAfrica 2008/1 p8
  3. ^ Seat 61 website accessed 20 February 2007
  4. ^ Edwin, Wilfred (2006-04-23). Tanzania, Zambia in talks over sale of joint railway. The East African. Retrieved on 2006-04-27.
  5. ^ Railways Africa website accessed 20 February 2007.

[edit] External links