Zambia Railways: Difference between revisions

Template:Histinfo Zambia Railways (ZR) is the national railway of Zambia, one of the two major railroad organizations in Zambia, which may also be referred to as Railway Systems of Zambia (RSZ). The other system is the binational Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) that interconnects with the ZR at Kapiri Mposhi and provides a link to the Tanzanian port of Dar es Salaam.

History

The ZR network was built during British colonial rule as part of the vision of the Cape-Cairo railway but the economic spur was to access the mines of Central Africa. The railway started as part of Rhodesian Railways, the company which ran the railways of Northern Rhodesia and Southern Rhodesia as an integrated operation, which was one of the largest employers and enterprises in both countries. The railway arrived in the future Zambia early in 1905 when the 150 km Livingstone-Kalomo line was built in advance of completion in September of that year of the Victoria Falls Bridge from the then Southern Rhodesia to Livingstone. The first wagons on the line were hauled by oxen, then a single locomotive was conveyed in pieces by cableway across the gorge where the bridge was being built to start up operations to Kalomo in advance of the main line connection.^[1]

Another major bridge was required to cross the Kafue River and the 427 m long Kafue Railway Bridge, the longest on the Rhodesian Railways or Zambian Railways network was completed in 1906.

The line reached Broken Hill (Kabwe) in 1906 and Ndola in the Copperbelt in 1909 (connecting to Sakania in the Congo), some 20 years before the first large-scale copper mines opened there.

Zambia Railways operates the Mulobezi Railway, a branch line from Livingstone, built as a private timber line.

In the mid 1960s spurred by the Rhodesian UDI crisis, the newly-independent Zambia split its railways off from Rhodesia Railways, and Zambia Railways came into being.

ZR network

Today the line is the main rail connection between Livingstone, Lusaka and the Copperbelt towns with connections to Zimbabwe and DR Congo and several branches, mostly to copper mines. The ZR has a length of 846 km mainline, plus 427 km branch lines. ZR utilizes the 1,067 mm narrow gauge.

Operations - Rail Services Zambia

Under the Zambian government's privatisation policy, on February 14, 2003 Zambia handed the rights to run its national railway (excluding TAZARA), for 20 years to consortium company Rail Services Zambia (RSZ), in exchange for an annual payment of US$253million and 5 percent of revenue.^[2]

Rail Services Zambia is formed from the mainly South African new Limpopo Bridge Projects Investments and national railway Spoornet. The consortium wants to rehabilitate 510 km of track, rolling-stock and communications and other assets owned by Zambia Railways. This plan will require investment of US$80million in infrastructure.^[2]

On the main line, passenger services are run between Kitwe and Livingstone only, and the only other service is on the Mulobezi branch line.^[3][4] Some Spoornet rolling stock and diesel locomotives are used, though a shortage of the latter hampers services.^[5]

International links

There are no current international passenger services of the ZR, only of the TAZARA railway. Some tour companies have run special services on the ZR network.

DR Congo

The Copperbelt reaches into the Katanga province of the Democratic Republic of Congo with mines at Lubumbashi and further north-west. The ZR network connects to Lubumbashi via Ndola and Sakania. At one time the Lubumbashi line connected to the Benguela Railway through Angola to Lobito Bay, but this line has not operated since the 1970s.

TAZARA railway

As most of its major export routes ran through then apartite controlled South Africa, Zambia needed an alternate export route for its copper. In 1976, Chinese construction crews completed the 1,860-kilometer-long Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) which runs from Kapiri Mposhi just north of the Zambian capital Lusaka, to the Tanzanian capital and major east African port of Dar es Salaam.^[6] After being operated jointly by the two nationalised railway systems, the Chinese again took over the running of TAZARA in a joint transport agreement from January 2007, which covered both direct air links to Beijing Capital International Airport and copper ore export.

Zimbabwe, Mozambique and South Africa

Via Victoria Falls Bridge the Zimbabwe rail network and the ports in Mozambique (Beira, Maputo) and South Africa can be reached. The condition of the 100-year-old bridge restricts traffic.

Up to the mid-1960s, passenger and sleeper services ran from Ndola to Bulawayo, Zimbabwe (then Rhodesia), connecting with a sleeper service to Cape Town and the Union Castle shipping line to Southampton, UK. This was the main travel route between south-central Africa and Europe before the Jet age. The journey from Ndola to Cape Town took five days.

Ndola-Bulawayo passenger services ended when Zambia suspended all services across the Victoria Falls Bridge in response to Rhodesia's UDI crisis. Freight services were occasionally resumed up to the line re-opening in 1980, but successful passenger services have not resumed.

ZR Main Stations and Branches

Branch lines are shown indented under main stations:^[7]

• Kitwe
  • Chambishi − copper mine
    • Mufulira − copper mine
  • Nchanga − copper mine
    • Chingola − copper mine
    • Chililabombwe − copper mine
• Ndola
  • Sakania, link to Democratic Republic of Congo − copper mines
  • Luanshya − copper mine
• New Kapiri Mposhi, link to TAZARA Railway to Tanzania
• Kabwe
• Lusaka
• Kafue
• Choma
  • Masuku (Maamba Colliery line)
• Livingstone
  • Mulobezi (Mulobezi Railway)
• Victoria Falls Bridge, link to Zimbabwe

Maps

• UN Map West

See also

• Transport in Zambia

References