Tanzania / Zambia: TAZARA suspends border crossing for passenger trains!

The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) has announced that both the Mukuba Passenger Train and Kilimanjaro Passenger Train will no longer cross the border between Tanzania and Zambia with effect from 30 March 2020 until further notice due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic. The trains will instead continue to run within the respective boundaries of the two countries. This adjustment in passenger train operations is inline with the measures taken by the Government of Tanzania and the Government of Zambia in the effort to control the spread of the virus. However, freight train operations are not affected by this change.

The new operational schedules for the two passenger trains will be as follows:

Mukuba Passenger Train:

• The Mukuba Passenger Train will depart New Kapiri Mposhi as it normally does on Tuesday, but terminate and u-turn at Nakonde on Wednesday, arriving at New Kapiri Mposhi on Thursday. The train will run again on Friday from New Kapiri Mposhi to Nakonde, u-turning at Nakonde on Saturday and arriving in New Kapiri Mposhi on Sunday.

Kilimanjaro  Passenger Train:

• The Kilimanjaro Passenger Train will depart Dar es Salaam as it normally does on Tuesday, but terminate and u-turn at Mbeya on Wednesday, arriving at Dar es Salaam on Friday, early in the morning. The train will run again on the same Friday from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya, u-turning at Mbeya on Saturday and arriving in Dar es Salaam in the early hours of Monday.

The TAZARA Railway, operated by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), is a railroad in East Africa linking the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania with the town of New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia's Central Province.