AFRICA: Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority restarted cross-border passenger train services between the countries on February 10, saying this reaffirms its ‘founding mandate to promote regional mobility, trade, tourism and people-to-people interaction’.
Long-distance international services had been suspended in June 2024 owing to ‘technical challenges’. The restart follows a reorganisation of passenger operations to provide ‘inclusivity, sustainability and reliability, within the realities of current operating constraints’.
The services have been refocused on the core regional and cross-border routes, in an effort to support regional trade, tourism and social interaction. The relaunch is seeking to improve reliability through a harmonised operating schedule that balances express and ordinary services, ‘ensuring no passenger segment is left behind’.
The number of trains has been reduced, enabling a consolidation of coaches and locomotives to strengthen the Mukuba service between Dar es Salaam and New Kapiri Mposhi and the Udzungwa local service between Kilombero and Makambako.
TAZARA said this approach improves reliability, optimises capacity utilisation and ensures more consistent service delivery while fleet availability remains constrained owing to ageing equipment, maintenance requirements and phased rehabilitation programmes.’
New Kapiri Mposhi to Dar es Salaam trains have been reduced from two to one per week, with the Mukuba leaving New Kapiri Mposhi every Tuesday and Dar es Salaam every Friday. It operates as a limited stop express service on the New Kapiri Mposhi – Kasama and Nakonde – Msolwa sections and an all-stations service elsewhere, responding to high passenger demand in sections where no parallel road infrastructure exists.
The Udzungwa shuttle service which was suspended in October 2025 resumed operations on February 12. There are two stopping services per week between Kidatu and Makambako to cater for high passenger demand between the Morogoro and Njombe regions.
TAZARA said it ‘remains committed to restoring safe, reliable, affordable, and region-connecting passenger rail services as part of its broader transformation and revitalisation agenda, in line with TAZARA’s original mandate and brand identity’.
