Zambia's key railway line re-opens after strike
LUSAKA: A key railway line which links landlocked Zambia to the ports in Tanzania reopened on Friday, 16 January, after a Tanzania high court ruled that the five-day strike action by workers was illegal.
"The suspension of operations...has now been uplifted and all train operations have resumed with immediate effect," the company said in a statement.
Workers at the cash strapped Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA), which is owned by the governments of Tanzania and Zambia, downed tools on Monday demanding five months of unpaid salaries.
On Friday, however, the cash strapped company said it had secured funds to pay the salary arrears, but did not reveal the source.
Built in the 1970s, Tazara remains an important route to the sea, handling most of Zambia's copper and cobalt exports.
But the troubled rail firm has been struggling to carry out its operations to capacity, lifting only about an eighth of the planned haulage of copper.
It transported 5,432 metric tonnes of copper against a projected 41,654 tonnes "because the company has virtually been at standstill," Conrad Simuchile, TAZARA spokesman said in an interview from Tanzania.
Zambia is the seventh biggest producer worldwide and the second biggest when it comes to refined copper.
The Chinese built Tazara, which runs for 1,860-kilometre (1,150-mile) from the centre of Zambia's copper belt in Kapiri Mposhi to Tanzania's major seaport of Dar es Salaam.
Source: AFP
Source: I-Net Bridge
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