Government to rehabilitate all railway lines in the country

* The rail transport will facilitate transportation of goods into Malawi from neighbouring countries

* This government is committed to make sure that all means of transport are improved to facilitate the movement of goods in and out of the country

By Robert Nayeja, MANA

Minister of Transport and Public Works, Jacob Hara pledges that government will rehabilitate all railway lines in the country to resume rail transport network as was the case in the past.

During inspection of construction work on Nsanje-Bangula-Marka rail line on Thursday, the Minister said the rail transport will facilitate transportation of goods into Malawi from neighbouring countries.

“This government is committed to make sure that all means of transport are improved to facilitate the movement of goods in and out of the country,” he said, adding that he was impressed with progress work on Bangula-Marka railway line.

“This is the beginning of rail rehabilitation in other parts of the country to ensure smooth movement of rail cargo and passengers. This railway has been given the capacity to load heavier goods than the railway line we had. Government plans that all railway lines should be revamped and be in operation,” he said.

He said the project stalled for a few months but all the challenges that were there have been addressed, adding the contractor has also been paid part of the money and is back on site.

The Minister also praised the contractor for setting up slipper production plant in the district which has created jobs for some people in Nsanje.

“Out of 70 people employed at the slipper production plant site, only one is Chinese while the rest are Malawians and this means that people will be able to get something at the end of the month,” he said.

Recently, Nsanje District Commissioner, Dominic Mwandira said once the railway is completed a lot of people will find economic opportunities.

He also expressed hope that prices of some commodities are likely to come down in the boarder district as the railway transportation is cheaper than road.

The history of Malawi rail network, sourced through Wikipedia, indicates that upon achieving independence in 1964, Malawi — which had previously been the British protectorate on Nyasaland — inherited a network of three railways to be managed as a government corporation.

The three networks were Shire Highlands Railway from Salima, lake services on Lake Malawi and Blantyre to Port Herald (now Nsanje) through the Central African Railway as well as from Port Herald to Vila Fontes (now Caio) in Portuguese Mozambique.

The network was run as a single, integrated Malawian system, even though the Trans-Zambezia Railway was located entirely on foreign territory. All of these lines were narrow gauge and single track, and the Shire Highlands Railway in particular had sharp curves and steep gradients, so the system was inadequate for heavy train loads.

Maintenance costs were high and freight volumes were low, so freight rates were up to three times those of Rhodesian and East African lines. Although costly and inefficient, the rail link to Beira remained the main bulk transport link until 1979 when it was destroyed by Renamo forces in the civil war.

By then, Malawi had its second rail link to the Mozambique port of Nacala, which is its principal route for imports and exports today.

From 1974 to 1979, Malawi worked with the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) to build 110kms of new track from Salima to Lilongwe though the Malawi-Canada Railway Project.

The 797km gauge line extends to Mchinji for the Zambian border at Chipata. At Nkaya junction, it links with the Nacala line together with the new Moatize-Nayuchi line.

The link south from Makhanga to Mozambique’s Beira corridor, which had been closed since the Mozambican Civil War, is now being rehabilitated in partnership with the Malawi Government.

The rehabilitation project is under a memorandum of understanding (MoU), which Malawi signed with the Government of Mozambique when President Chakwera visited the country in Tête in October last year.

For the moment, freight traffic is predominantly exports through Nacala, including sugar, tobacco, pigeon peas and tea with I mport traffic consisting of fuel, fertiliser and containerised consumer goods.

A government subsidised passenger rail service operates twice weekly from Blantyre to Balaka as well as the Nayuchi border with Mozambique.—Additional reporting by Duncan Mlanjira, Maravi Express