The Railroad Rivalry: China’s Tazara Revival vs. Western-Backed Corridors

In the shifting landscape of African trade logistics and global infrastructure competition, few stories capture the emerging geoeconomic rivalry between China and Western partners like the rejuvenation of the historic Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) line and its contest with the Western-backed Lobito Corridor. For investors, policymakers, and business leaders, understanding this duel is critical to navigating Africa’s evolving transport economy.

Originally completed in the 1970s with Chinese support as a symbol of solidarity, TAZARA links the copper-rich Copperbelt of Zambia and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) to the port of Dar es Salaam on the Indian Ocean. This east-west artery was once a bustling trade corridor for minerals and goods. But decades of underinvestment left it operating far below capacity, until China committed roughly US $1.4 billion in rehabilitation funds and a long-term concession to modernise the line with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) at the helm.