Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority Resumes Cross-Border Operations

The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has announced that they have restarted their operations of cross-border interstate passenger train service following a suspension that began in August 2014.

According to a spokesperson for Tazara, Conrad Simuchile, services will revert to their previous schedule and ordinary passenger trains will no longer terminate or make a u-turn at the Tanzania/Zambia border station of Nakonde.

“With effect from Tuesday 30 December 2014, the interstate cross-border passenger trains, between Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and New Kapiri-Mposhi in Zambia, will revert back to the old schedules and run through across the borders,” he said.

The Acting Managing Director of Tazara, Eng. Ronald Phiri indicated in the released statement that the authority had strayed from its mission of satisfying customer needs through the provision of an efficient and quality transport service which necessitated the recent changes to the railway.

“These changes have been necessitated by our experience since August when we stopped inter-state operations, the numerous complaints we have received from the travelling public as well as the operational challenges we have faced following the transition,” he said.

Tazara was constructed between 1970 and 1975 with funding from an interest-free loan of USD 500 million from China and officially launched its operations in 1976 covering a span of 1,869km.

Update:

January 12, 2014: Following a press release issued by Tazara, all train operations between Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and New Kapiri-Mposhi in Zambia have been suspended until further notice.