Across China: Zambian youth chasing railway dreams in China

CHANGSHA, Dec. 21 (Xinhua) -- When Michael Njovu, a 26-year-old Zambian graduate student in central China's Hunan Province, learned that the Tanzania-Zambia Railway (TAZARA) revitalization project had been officially launched in his landlocked homeland, it felt like a call to purpose.

"Since it was constructed in the 1970s, this railway has been vital for goods export and trade in Zambia," said Njovu, who is pursuing a master's degree in transportation engineering at Central South University. "During its revitalization, it will also create more related jobs for local people."

Once completed, the upgraded railway will link southern and eastern African railways, highways and ports, advancing regional infrastructure connectivity.

With the project moving forward, the railway's annual freight capacity is expected to reach 2.4 million tonnes, and delivery time could be cut by nearly two-thirds.

It was initially built with interest-free loans from China and officially handed over to the governments of Tanzania and Zambia on July 14, 1976. The line runs from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to its terminus in New Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia.

Inside the New Kapiri Mposhi station stands a monument indicating the railway's full length: 1,860.54369 kilometers.

The precise figure reflects the efforts of more than 50,000 Chinese engineers and construction workers who, over a period of five years and eight months, worked alongside their Tanzanian and Zambian peers to complete the line. Among those involved were alumni of Njovu's university in China.

Central South University was established in 2000 through the merger of three colleges including the Changsha Railway Institute, one of the first Chinese institutions to train professionals for the TAZARA project. A group of professors and students of the institute were dispatched to Africa to support the railway's construction in the 1970s. They conducted over 3,000 kilometers of survey work in malaria-prone areas, measuring routes by day and calculating data in the light of kerosene lamps in thatched huts at night.

"This moving story and China's advanced scientific technology prompted me to study in China," Njovu said.

The university program he is enrolled in is designed to help developing countries build expertise in high-speed rail and electric multiple unit (EMU) technology. Since 2016, 243 students from more than 20 countries, including Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, Sudan and Rwanda, have joined the program. To date, 192 people have graduated, and 51 are still studying.

According to the university, about 90 percent of its African alumni since 1996 have returned to their home countries to contribute to local development -- a path Njovu is looking to follow.

After graduating in 2026, Njovu plans to take his newfound knowledge back to Zambia, where a revitalized railway awaits not just increased freight, but a new generation of dreamers.

"Contributing to my hometown's railway development is my dream," Njovu said. "I'm lucky to be here learning advanced techniques." ■