More than 50 years ago, when the continent itself was not rich, it spent a huge amount of money to help Africa build a railway, which made a great contribution to their development.
But surprisingly, the railway, which has boosted their economic development, has not been well protected, and the current situation is worrying.
Why did the continent help Africa build railways when it was in a bad state of its own? What is the current state of the railway?
All content in this article is based on official and reliable sources, and the specific information is detailed at the end of the article
Africa's "Road to Freedom"
The 1,860-kilometer Tanzania-Zambia Railway, which connects Tanzania and Zambia, has made a great contribution to the economic development of Tanzania and Zambia, because Africa is actually rich in natural resources, but due to the treacherous terrain, their development has also been restricted a lot.
It is precisely because of the relatively slow development that Tanzania and Zambia have been in a dominant position for a long time, and in 1964, they finally got rid of the situation of being ruled, so they urgently needed to develop their economies to improve the status of the country, but this did not seem to be easy.
Although they are rich in minerals and agricultural products, they have no means of transportation, take Zambia as an example, he is a landlocked country, want to export domestic goods, air transport is the best choice, but at that time their domestic aviation was not developed.
Therefore, they will choose to take the waterway when exiting, because Zambia does not have a port, and if you want to take the waterway, you must first pass through Tanzania, but the geographical environment between the two countries is not good, and it can even be described as sinister, often you need to go over the mountains and mountains, and it takes several days to arrive.
Faced with this situation, Tanzania and Zambia quickly agreed to build a railway connecting the two countries, which was a good idea, but it was quite difficult to implement, and they did not have sufficient funds and capacity to support the construction of the railway.
So they thought about asking for help from other countries, but at that time, the society was in turmoil, and their social status was very low, and no one was willing to lend a helping hand to them, and it was at this time that they set their sights on China.
At that time, China's own situation was also very worrying, and it was in a time of ruin, but in the face of the request of Tanzania and Zambia, we still chose to help, because China at that time was in urgent need of diplomacy, which could not only help them, but also gain their support, and break the state of diplomatic isolation, which was the best of both worlds.
Later, after the joint consultation between Premier Zhou and the President of Tanzania, the mainland and Tanzania formally signed an agreement on railway construction after 1967.
Thanks to the hard work of the mainland's experts and staff, the railway was finally built in 1976, and the two countries finally had a more convenient mode of transportation, and the mainland also successfully won the support of African countries, which voted in favor of the UN resolution.
Now, more than 50 years later, what is the current situation of this railway, which symbolizes China-Africa friendship?
The difficult operation of the Tanzan Railway
When the Tanzania-Zambia Railway was just completed and opened to traffic, it did not reach the original expected situation, because the economic conditions of the two countries are not the same, which also leads to the railway transportation volume is not very large, and the economic return is not proportional to his investment, and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway is gradually declining.
Later, because of the rise of tourism, the Tanzan Railway was also revitalized, it was originally only used to transport goods, and began to transport tourists, and the transportation situation was improved, but such help was only temporary, and the operation of the Tanzan Railway was not completely improved.
According to an old driver who has worked for more than ten years, when he was still working, he could drive many trains a day, and then he could only drive one or two trains, especially after he retired, the railway basically only sent one or two trains a day.
He had never heard of a pension, let alone received it, because their railway bureau was so poor that it was very difficult to operate and maintain the railway, so they didn't have a pension at all, and the maintenance of the railway was difficult enough, and they had to suffer from the infringement of local residents.
If the country's economy does not develop, the living conditions of the local residents will not improve, because they will do everything to make money because they are poor, and when they see that there are basically no trains passing on the railway, they will start the idea of the tracks, and some people will tear them down and surround them outside their yards.
What's more, some people directly dig out the buried cables underneath and sell them for money, in the face of such a situation, the railway bureau has also taken a series of measures, and then this situation has disappeared, but the operation of the railway is still not good, and the railway bureau still has no money.
Although the Tanzania-Zambia Railway has lived up to its pomp, the Sino-African friendship contained in it still exists, and I believe that in the near future, with our joint efforts, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway can return to its peak.
The mainland attaches so much importance to this railway, on the one hand, because it symbolizes Sino-African friendship, and on the other hand, because we overcame many difficulties to build this railway.
An exceptionally difficult road to construction
We Chinese are very serious about doing things, since we have promised to build the railway, we will definitely do our best, and more than 50,000 construction workers have crossed thousands of mountains and seas to the construction site, but before the construction has begun, they have encountered difficulties.
Their gauge was very different from the standard gauge in the mainland, which meant that the design we had done in advance could not be used at all, so the experts had to redesign the track for specific situations in order to interface with their local railway network and ensure the safety of the railway.
In addition, the materials needed for the construction of the railway are also very troublesome to transport into Zambia, and they must first reach the port of Tanzania by sea, and then transport them inside, but their transportation is not developed, otherwise there is no need to build a railway, so the materials can only reach the construction site after many difficulties.
It is already very difficult to build a railway, and the workers have to face the threat of their lives, the tropical jungle has bred countless malaria mosquitoes, and the slightest carelessness will be bitten, and there are workers on the mainland who have died of malaria infection, and the sanitary conditions there are not good, so it can be said that our workers are risking their lives to work.
Under the hard work of the Chinese workers, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway was finally completed and opened to traffic, and we paid a painful price, dozens of workers lost their lives forever, guarding this hard-won railway by the railway, and at the same time promoting the development of the construction industry in the mainland.
The current situation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway may not be good, but I believe that with the joint efforts of us and African countries, the Tanzania-Zambia Railway will return to its former glory.
Information sources:
China Youth Network: 2017-05-03 "The Current Situation of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway: Striving to Maintain Operation and Looking Forward to Rebirth"
People's Daily Online: 2024-02-04 "Let the Spirit of the Tanzan Railway Shine Forever"
Guangming.com: 2024-02-24"Experience the "Deep Train Tour" on the Tanzania-Zambia Railway: Enjoy the Scenery of Africa and Feel the Fun of Cross-border Train Travel"
Overseas Network: 2023-07-26 "A Road of Friendship and Development"