TAZARA STRUGGLING TO MEET PASSENGER NEEDS

 

By Lumbiwe Mwanza

THERE has been low utilization of railway services in areas where the railway is parallel to the road but heavy utilization in areas where there is no road network, Tanzania -Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) managing director Bruno Ching’andu has said.

The TAZARA railway line runs between Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

Currently, for many cross-border traders in Zambia that conduct their businesses between Zambia and Tanzania, the use of the TAZARA trains is the most affordable means of transporting both goods and people.

Mr. Ching’andu said the passenger coaches operating consist of Express train while the other one is not adding that on Tuesday and Sundays, the express train only stopped at major stations while the other one stops on all the 94 stations.

He said that the fleet of passenger coaches, which had been subjected to extreme strains from over-use and limited maintenance, had proved to be a challenge in meeting passenger needs.

“We are not able to meet all passenger needs due to the limited and ageing coaches. We have some coaches that are as old as 35 years old and have become a bit obsolete and maintaining them is now difficult as sourcing for spare parts is a problem,” Mr. Ching’andu said.

He said that the future for TAZARA lay in the recapitalisation efforts considering that the available equipment and infrastructure had drastically depreciated, needing urgent refurbishment and total replacement, in some cases.

He said the company had reached a stage where a fresh injection of capital was necessary for the refurbishment or replacement of aged equipment, infrastructure, and coaches.