TAZARA suspends passenger train operations

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania | Xinhua | The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) on Thursday announced that passenger train operations will be suspended from June 18, 2024, until further notice.

“This suspension has been necessitated by various operational challenges that the authority is facing,” TAZARA said in a statement signed by Conrad Simuchile, TAZARA’s head of public relations.

On May 21, TAZARA announced the resumption of train operations following the renovation of the main line, damaged by heavy rains in March. Train operations were suspended on April 1 after landslides caused by heavy rains damaged the Mlimba-Makambako railway tracks in Tanzania.

The TAZARA railway, known as the “Uhuru Railway” or “Independent Railway,” was constructed as a turnkey project between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan from China, with commercial operations starting in July 1976, covering 1,860 km from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

As a major transportation artery spanning East Africa and Central-Southern Africa, the TAZARA railway is China’s largest foreign aid project. ■