The first railway arrived in what was then Northern Rhodesia in 1905 with the opening of the bridge over the Victoria Falls. The 3ft 6in (1067mm) gauge line ran for just a few miles to Livingstone, but within 5 years was extended via the capital, Lusaka, to the northern copper producing region of the country.
The next railway development took place in the late 1920s, with the opening of two major railway: one, the Benguela Railway, ran from the copper belt via the Belgian Congo (present day Democratic Republic of Congo) to Angola. The other, the Mulobezi Railway, ran west from Livingstone to serve the timber extraction industry in the teak forests.
A major new development took place in 1975 with the opening of the TAZARA line from Kapiri Mposhi in northern Zambia to Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. This prestigious 1850km railway was motivated in part by continued civil unrest in Angola and the Congo, which had resulted in the Benguela Railway being severed at the Zambian frontier.
The main railway spine through the country today is the Zambia Railways line from Livingstone, via Lusaka, to Kitwe in the north, used by passenger and freight trains. At Kapiri Mposhi there is a junction with TAZARA that is used by freight trains but not passenger. TAZARA has its own passenger trains, but the passenger stations of the two railways at Kapiri Mposhi are separated by a distance of around 2km. On the other hand, the passenger station at Livingstone is shared by Zambia Railways, Mulobezi Railway and the various special tourist trains which arrive in Zambia via the Victoria Falls Bridge. Livingstone is also the point of connection for freight movements between these systems.
The main line was privatised in 2003, the concession being awarded to Railway Systems of Zambia. The TAZARA line is owned by the states of Tanzania and Zambia and operated by a joint corporation. In recent years it has been reported that the TAZARA railway is in a much deteriorated condition and ins little used. Attempts to find a private operator who would invest in the rehabilitation of the railway have been ongoing since 2006, but to date without success. At the time of writing, it is believed that the Mulabezi Railway is still operating as a separate entity, but details are unclear.
There are proposals to reopen the international link via the Benguela Railway, but this will depend on progress with its reconstruction in Angola and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. There is also a proposal put forward by the Namibian government to connect the railway network of that country directly with the northern region of Zambia. Finally, there is a proposal by Central East African Railways to construct a cross border link into Zambia from the railway network of Malawi, although this would not connect with the Zambian system.
