Tanzania, Zambia and China have started work on a training centre and a rail operations control centre in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. Both infrastructure are part of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) Revitalization Program, with a concession of over $1.4 billion in investments.
The launch ceremony was held on 17 July 2026 in Dar es Salaam, with representatives of Tanzanian and Zambian governments, Chinese officials and leaders of TAZARA and China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCCCC).
The new training centre will be built on a plot of 21,800 m2, with a built surface of 9,641 m2. It will host laboratories, training rooms and workspaces for technical, operational and managerial training of railway professionals.
In particular, the centre must train engineers, technicians, locomotive operators, train controllers, station staff and safety officers. It must also accompany the transfer of skills and technologies related to the introduction of new locomotives, cars, communication systems and other equipment under the revitalization programme.
China supports the construction of this infrastructure for the development of the skills needed to operate and maintain the modernized network.
The future operations control centre will also be the main site for the coordination and supervision of train movements on the TAZARA network, 1.860 kilometres long.
It will be equipped with traffic management communication systems, integrated monitoring devices, digital display walls and information management platforms. This equipment will improve the coordination between stations and trains, the safety of operations and the use of locomotives and wagons.
The construction of these two facilities is part of the concession agreement signed on 29 September 2025 between TAZARA and CCCCC for the rehabilitation, modernization and operation of freight transport on the network.
The program provides over $1.4 billion in investments, including the rehabilitation of railway infrastructure and the acquisition of new locomotives and cars. Connecting the port of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, to New Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia, TAZARA also provides access to COMESA and SADC markets.
