Rail line gets a lifeline

A map of the critical Tazara route.

China has thrown a US$22.4-million lifeline to the loss-making Tanzania/Zambia railway (Tanzar).

This is so the Tanzania–Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) can buy locomotives and rolling stock for the railway, which plays a vital role in transporting copper from Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) to Tanzania’s Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam.