【Text by Shang Jingge, Observer's Columnist】

On the vast highlands of southern Africa, a "steel artery" symbolizing Sino-African friendship and cooperation — the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) — runs through. This railway, about 1860 kilometers long, starts from Dar es Salaam Port on the Indian Ocean coast, crosses the Tanzanian highlands, and leads to Kapiri Mposhi in central Zambia, closely connecting the resource-rich landlocked country with the outside world.

Recently, it has received a "new life": more than a year ago, the heads of state of China, Tanzania, and Zambia jointly witnessed the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding on the TAZARA Activation Project in Beijing; on the afternoon of November 20 this year, the leaders of the three countries met again in Lusaka, the capital of Zambia, to jointly attend the groundbreaking ceremony of this project.

On the local time of November 20, Premier Li Qiang of the State Council attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the TAZARA Activation Project in Lusaka with President Hakainde Hichilema of Zambia and Vice President Nchimbi of Tanzania. Photo by Yao Dawei, Xinhua News Agency.

What does the TAZARA Railway mean to Africa?

Before the completion of the TAZARA Railway, many areas along its route were economically isolated. The completion of the TAZARA Railway brought new employment, trade, and service opportunities, promoting the development of education, medical care, and social infrastructure. Therefore, this project has become one of the models of Sino-African cooperation for improving people's livelihoods.

In fact, the TAZARA Railway is not only an infrastructure project, but also a historical symbol of African economic independence and regional integration. For resource-based countries such as Zambia, Tanzania, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), this railway plays a crucial role in mineral transportation, trade promotion, and regional cooperation.

Overall, compared with road transport, rail transport is cheaper, safer, and less polluting. For companies in the mining industry, using railways can save 30% to 40% of logistics costs, while transport is more regular and the risk of cargo damage is lower. Looking specifically at the impact on each country, they all have their own benefits.

For Zambia, the TAZARA Railway is the lifeline of its copper economy.

Zambia is one of the world's major copper producers, and copper exports account for about 70% of its foreign exchange earnings. With the TAZARA Railway, Zambia has obtained an independent railway channel to the Indian Ocean, reducing its reliance on the colonial system's control routes. Through this railway, copper produced in the Copperbelt region is transported to Dar es Salaam Port and then exported to Asia and Europe. At its peak, the TAZARA Railway transported over one million tons of copper and other goods annually. This transportation network significantly reduced logistics costs and stabilized Zambia's economy. In addition, the railway promoted the integration between mining areas and industrial cities, driving urbanization and industrialization in places such as Ndola and Kapiri Mposhi, creating thousands of direct and indirect employment opportunities.

Children in the Luwingu area of Lake Victoria in Zambia welcome the train of the TAZARA Railway arriving in their hometown (photographed in 1976). Photo from CCTV News.

For Tanzania, the TAZARA Railway is not just a national railway, but also an international trade corridor.

Thanks to the railway construction, Dar es Salaam Port became one of the main mineral export hubs in East Africa. The increasing volume of freight, including minerals, fuel, fertilizers, and industrial products, has driven port expansion and promoted economic growth in cities such as Mbeya and Mpika along the line, forming a new domestic economic axis. The TAZARA Railway has also strengthened Tanzania's geostrategic position within the Southern African Development Community (SADC) and consolidated its role as a regional transportation center.

From a broader perspective, the railway not only connects Zambia and Tanzania, but also extends via branches and roads to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Malawi, Rwanda, and Burundi, promoting logistics integration between landlocked and coastal countries in southern Africa. This connectivity system has significantly increased intra-African trade and helped achieve the goals of the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA).

For example, from the perspective of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the TAZARA Railway is another new export channel apart from the Lobito Corridor.

The Katanga region in the southeast of the DRC is rich in copper, cobalt, tantalum, and lithium. Due to weak road and railway infrastructure in the past, mineral exports were long constrained. With the strengthening of regional cooperation, many Congolese mining companies have started to use the TAZARA Railway: transporting ore from Lubumbashi to Zambia, and then by railway to Dar es Salaam. Although this route is slightly longer than the Angolan Lobito Corridor, it provides higher stability, safety, and reliability during periods of political and military instability. With the surge in global demand for key strategic minerals, especially cobalt and copper, the TAZARA Railway has become an important channel for the DRC's mineral exports, ensuring a stable source of foreign exchange income.

China's investment of 1.4 billion USD to "activate" the TAZARA Railway, what will it bring?

The TAZARA Railway, which has been in operation for nearly half a century, is facing challenges such as aging tracks and locomotives. In addition, years of neglect and management issues have significantly reduced the railway's operational capacity.

To reverse the trend, since the early 21st century, China, Tanzania, and Zambia have held multiple consultations and joint inspections, reaching a preliminary agreement on revitalizing the TAZARA Railway. In recent years, with the rise in international commodity prices, especially copper prices, Tanzania and Zambia have become more determined to accelerate mineral exports. In this context, both countries expressed a desire to modernize the railway to meet the growing freight demand.

At the Beijing Summit of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in September 2024, the heads of state of China, Tanzania, and Zambia signed the Memorandum of Understanding on the TAZARA Activation Project. Earlier this year, the TAZARA Railway Authority signed a concession agreement with a Chinese company, under which the Chinese side will invest 1.4 billion USD to modernize the railway. Now, the activation project has officially started.

After modernization — including reinforcing the tracks, upgrading the signaling system, updating the locomotives, and introducing a digital management system — the railway's efficiency and safety will be significantly improved. The average speed of trains will increase from 30–40 km/h to 60–80 km/h, and the cargo transportation time could be shortened by up to two-thirds. The annual freight capacity will increase from the current 200,000 tons to 2.4 million tons, with potential for further growth. This allows Zambia's copper and the DRC's cobalt to be exported more stably and efficiently to the international market. After the railway's modernization, the logistics system between inland areas and ports becomes faster and more reliable.

For example, transporting copper ore from the Copperbelt region to Dar es Salaam used to take 10 to 14 days, but now it will take only 5 to 7 days. For mining companies, this means cost savings, increased transport predictability, and enhanced competitiveness in the global metal market. Dar es Salaam Port also benefits: increased exports bring higher port revenue, storage fees, and foreign exchange earnings.

The "activation" of the TAZARA Railway is not only a technological upgrade, but also forms an integrated transnational economic corridor of "resources—transportation—processing—export." The port of Dar es Salaam is also expanded and modernized, becoming a comprehensive hub for mineral exports and container transportation. Thus, the TAZARA Railway transforms from a simple raw material export channel into the backbone of regional economic integration.

The "Lobito Corridor" faces numerous challenges

At the same time that the TAZARA Railway is "reborn," another corridor on the African continent has once again attracted some international media attention, that is, the "Lobito Corridor" mentioned earlier, which has recently drawn renewed attention from the West and is hoped to "counterbalance" China's "Belt and Road" influence.

The blue line represents the "Lobito Corridor", and the red line represents the TAZARA Railway built by China.

The U.S.-led "Lobito Corridor" plan aims to build a railway network of 1,700 kilometers across Angola, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, and Zambia, the "copper belt" regions, based on the reconstruction of the Benguela Railway built in the early 20th century. However, it currently faces numerous difficulties.

The existence of multiple funding agencies constitutes the first challenge. Different procedures, compliance requirements, and regulatory systems have caused serious delays in project implementation. Indeed, the uncertainty from funding commitments to actual disbursements is common in other large-scale projects in Africa. For example, the "Grand Inga Hydropower Project" in the DRC has remained stagnant for years despite World Bank support due to political differences and lack of inter-agency coordination. The "Turkana Lake Wind Farm" project in Kenya has also been delayed for years due to partial withdrawal of public funders.

Secondly, the inconsistency of the three countries' regulatory standards. The differences in customs, tariffs, technical standards, and transit procedures among Angola, Zambia, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo reveal the problem of insufficient regional regulatory integration. For a "development corridor," this is particularly fatal, as it not only needs to realize raw material exports but also promote the smooth flow of goods, services, and added value in both directions.

Thirdly, the lag in infrastructure construction, with the general delay in the construction of ports, intermodal and transfer hubs. Some key facilities of Lobito Port have not completed modernization, and the expansion of docks, heavy-duty handling equipment, and digital management systems are still in planning or stagnation. Secondary logistics hubs in places like Huambo, Luau, and Chingola have not yet been built. This makes the corridor face the risk of being limited to a pure mineral export channel rather than a comprehensive corridor promoting local industry and agriculture integration.

Additionally, there is regional political uncertainty. Zambia is about to enter the election cycle, and administrative continuity and budget priorities are subject to change; Angola is expected to hold national elections in 2027, which may affect its economic policy direction; the situation in the east of the DRC continues to be unstable, with armed conflicts and a weak central government severely undermining investment confidence. Moreover, the three countries lack a common governance framework and do not have a supranational coordination mechanism to ensure long-term cooperation.

Now, Trump has returned to the White House, and the commitment of the United States to this project may also face changes. He may prefer to exchange key mineral supplies and infrastructure investments through bilateral transactions, which contrasts with the multilateral cooperation model initially advocated by the Biden administration.

Conclusion

The "activation" of the TAZARA Railway will make it re-emerge as the core of economic growth in southern and eastern Africa. The "new TAZARA Railway" accelerates mineral exports, boosts port vitality, revives urban development, and strengthens regional cooperation. From economic, social, environmental, to political aspects, it symbolizes the revival of African infrastructure and the deepening of the Sino-African win-win partnership, pointing towards a more connected, prosperous, and sustainable future for Africa. Its comparison with the "companion" actually "treatment" may also reflect the real difference in the diplomacy of the two superpowers, China and the United States.

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