page_title: TAZARA Railway
section_title: Social impact
hierarchical_section_title: TAZARA Railway / Social impact
caption_attribution_description: Serving the Mukuba Express passenger train on the Tazara Railroad in Zambia, Africa.
context_page_description: The TAZARA Railway, also called the Uhuru Railway or the Tanzam Railway, is a railway in East Africa linking the port of Dar es Salaam in east Tanzania with the town of Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia's Central Province. The single-track railway is 1,860 km long and is operated by the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority.
  The governments of Tanzania, Zambia and China built the railway to eliminate landlocked Zambia's economic dependence on Rhodesia and South Africa, both of which were ruled by white-minority governments. The railway provided the only route for bulk trade from Zambia's Copperbelt to reach the sea without having to transit white-ruled territories. The spirit of Pan-African socialism among the leaders of Tanzania and Zambia and the symbolism of China's support for newly independent African countries gave rise to TAZARA's designation as the "Great Uhuru Railway", Uhuru being the Swahili word for Freedom.
  The project was built from 1970 to 1975 as a turnkey project financed and supported by China. At its completion, the TAZARA was the longest railway in sub-Saharan Africa.
context_section_description: The TAZARA has had a strong impact on the rural regions along route.  In the 1970s, the Tanzanian government resettled villagers into ujamaa villages that were near the railway. The villages were tasked with providing security for the railway against foreign sabotage.  As the Tanzanian economy liberalized in the 1990s, the villagers began to use the railway to trade local produce.
  The railway also enabled settlers to move to the fertile Kilombero River Valley, between Mbeya and Kidatu, to grow cash crops such as rice and vegetables that they can readily ship to other communities.  As the TAZARA traverses diverse ecosystems, it facilitates trade in local produce across previously isolated communities, including maize, beans and vegetables from the highlands of Makambako, rice from Ifakara, oranges from Mlimba, and bananas from Mngeta and Idete.  The TAZARA ran the kipsi shuttle trains in the "passenger belt" of southern Tanzania to serve the region.  Many settlements have grown into large towns and districts.
  The TAZARA also spurred other large-scale economic developments in the region, including a hydroelectric power plant at Kidatu and a paper mill at Rufiji.
  The TAZARA Railway Authority has also become a large state employer.  In 40 years of operation, as many as one million people have been employed by the railway.  Chinese involvement has also been credited for increasing the opportunities of women to enter male-dominated jobs such as train driver.
caption: Vendors selling items to passengers on the Mukuba Express Train.
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