China has signed new commitments to revamp the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) line, confirming plans to rebuild a key export route for minerals.

The deal, signed Monday in Beijing after nearly two years of talks between China, Tanzania, and Zambia, will see the two African countries — through their railway agencies — coordinate renovations, management and operations of the line running from Dar es Salaam Port to Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia’s Copperbelt.

According to the Tanzania Railway Corporation, the project will start with a $1.1 billion investment, followed by $238 million, The upgrade is being done by the China Railway Construction Corporation (CRCC), which built the original line between 1970 and 1976.

Tanzania’s Transport Minister Makame Mbarawa said the project will “improve trade, ease integration and stimulate economic growth, creating new job opportunities.” Officials said the initial plan includes 34 new locomotives, 16 passenger coaches, and 760 wagons.

Chinese upgrade of Tazara comes as the United States and the European Union push the Lobito Corridor, a competing railway network linking the Dar port to Angola’s Lobito Port through mineral-rich parts of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

Like Tazara, it targets the copper and cobalt belts crucial to the green energy transition. One proposed Lobito line is a 300km track linking Angola to Zambia and the DRC’s mines.

Most of the DRC’s copper exports are currently trucked through Zambia to Dar es Salaam.

Built at a cost of $500 million, Tazara stretches 1,860km and was designed to carry up to five million tonnes of cargo annually. Today, it moves only about 200,000 tonnes—just four percent of capacity, according to Tazara management.

The new agreement gives the Chinese firm a 30-year concession to manage the railway.

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