Wagons will keep Nacala Corridor freight rolling

T he Nacala Rail Corridor is one of the few in the region to have sufficient rolling stock to handle volumes. According to CDN, which is managing and developing what is known as the “North Development Corridor,” the newly extended and upgraded line has 237 container carrier wagons, 160 grain wagons (loose cargo), 207 breakbulk wagons (bagged cargo) and 58 fuel tankers. Additional capacity from Zambia Railways includes 40 container carrier wagons and 30 breakbulk wagons. There are 36 locomotives for the main line, and seven shunting locomotives. The corridor connects with Zambia at Chipata, which has been linked to Malawi by rail since 2011. According to CDN the upgraded line to Nacala is built to handle 20.5 tons per axle, and can accommodate two pairs of trains a day, with 42 wagons per block train. A block train can carry 84 twenty foot containers or 1 700 tons of general and breakbulk cargo. In November 2016 the Zambian government signed a US$2.3-billion contract with China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation for the construction of a 388-km link to the existing Zambian main line in Serenje in the Central Province. Nacala will then be the closest port by rail for the Copperbelt via Kapiri Mposhi, which is the junction for the railway connection between the Zambia Railways line from Kitwe to Lusaka and Livingstone and western terminal of the TAZARA line from Dar es Salaam. The distance from Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es Salaam is 1 860 kilometres, compared to around 1 500 kilometres to Nacala when the new line is operational. According to CDN, the rail corridor has the potential to boost economic growth by helping to lower transport costs for importers and exporters in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and Zambia as well as Malawi and Mozambique. The project crosses Mozambique and Malawi, but will have a wider regional development impact on countries such as Zambia and the DRC, according to CDN. Around US$300 million is being invested in the deep-water port of Nacala to handle the additional volumes.