China Revamps the TAZARA Rail Corridor: Reasserting Influence in Southern Africa

China’s decision to modernise the Tanzania–Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) marks one of the most consequential infrastructure moves in southern Africa in recent years. This intelligence product by Global Eye Intelligence unpacks why the $1.4 billion rail upgrade is not merely a transport project, but a strategic intervention into Africa’s mineral supply chains, regional trade flows, and great-power competition.

The analysis traces TAZARA’s evolution from a Cold War symbol of China–Africa solidarity into a modern logistics artery connecting Zambia’s Copperbelt to the port of Dar es Salaam. By dramatically expanding freight capacity and rehabilitating track, signalling, and rolling stock, the corridor is being repositioned as a reliable export route for copper, manganese, and other critical minerals central to the global energy transition. The report also explains how this move directly counters Western-backed alternatives, intensifying corridor competition across southern and central Africa.

Beyond economics, the product evaluates geopolitical implications: China’s renewed leverage in Zambia’s debt and mining ecosystem, Tanzania’s emergence as a logistics hub, and the broader recalibration of African states navigating between competing external partners. Domestic risks—land acquisition, implementation delays, and localised political tensions—are assessed alongside regional spillover effects.

Why this matters now: infrastructure is becoming the primary currency of influence in Africa. Those who track these shifts early will understand where mineral flows, strategic leverage, and regional alignments are heading—long before they crystallise.

Follow Global Eye Intelligence to stay ahead of Africa’s infrastructure geopolitics before today’s rail lines define tomorrow’s power map.