• Zambia Railways secures $20m to rehabilitate six locomotives
• Upgraded locomotives expected back in service between May and December 2026
• Project supports growing freight demand across regional rail corridors

Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) signed a $20 million financing agreement last week with Worldwide Rail and Mining Solutions (WWRMS) to rehabilitate, rebuild and upgrade six GT locomotives rated at 3,600 horsepower. The project is part of a broader effort by the state-owned operator to revitalise its fleet as it grapples with rolling stock shortages amid rising freight demand on domestic and regional corridors.

Under the agreement, the locomotives will undergo complete overhauls and technical upgrades to restore operating capacity, improve fuel efficiency, enhance reliability and extend their service life. The work will be carried out at ZRL’s main workshop in Kabwe on a phased schedule: the first two locomotives are expected back in service between May and June 2026, two more in August, and the final pair in November and December. The programme also includes a knowledge-transfer and technical capacity-building component.

Once operational, the refurbished locomotives are expected to strengthen fleet reliability and support growing freight volumes across key sectors including mining, agriculture, energy, manufacturing and cross-border trade. The initiative comes as Zambia increases investment in rail infrastructure to strengthen its position within the increasingly competitive regional logistics corridor network across Southern and East Africa.

That momentum was further underscored in November 2025, when Zambia signed a €50 million (about $58.1 million) financing agreement with the European Union to modernise the Livingstone–Ndola railway line. The project forms part of a wider strategy to expand rail’s role in national logistics, including the rehabilitation and extension of sections of the domestic network and investment in transnational corridors.

Beyond the Livingstone-Ndola upgrade, Zambia and Tanzania are jointly working to modernise the TAZARA railway. Lusaka is also exploring the development of a tripartite rail corridor linking Zambia, Zimbabwe and Mozambique to improve access to the ports of Beira and Maputo.

Henoc Dossa