Tazara - recent updates

[SandsofEss]

I'm planning to travel eastbound on the Tazara Railway in early April.

I'm aware the service is currently operating as two disconnected trains in Zambia and Tanzania, and that I'd need to make my own way from Nakonde to Mbeya (with no guaranteed connection).

I'm trying to work out how easy it is to get between Nakonde and Mbeya. Whether I should pre-book something, or if I can assume there will be a swarm of taxis and buses given the many passengers who'll need to make this connection.

Has anybody been on the train recently and done this before? Any advice or experiences gratefully received.

 

[dutchflyer]

Good news for you-as I just checked-via a well-known dr google doing searches: FROM 1/4 it is planned to resume through trains again! Tazarasite.com.
Of course 1st source would be to check seat61-will have much more and wide-spread train-travellers as this site, mostly aimed at UK-trainstaff+users in practice: it has a report which states that there will/would be no wait and a few reports on how to bridge that gap.
A best-known and world-wide touristy-forum like tripadvisor did not have any recent=from last 3 month, report on this-for TA its 98% on safari´s.
Still -personally never been there and not intend to either- I would wait till more definitive reports are there to confirm before booking expensive flite tickets to get there if this is your main point of going there. But of course all up to you and good luck with it!
BTW-purely aside-seat61 also has a bit of info on planned/being constructed/renovated/electrified other railines over there-in case you have more/wider plans to explore.

 

[SandsofEss]

Good news for you-as I just checked-via a well-known dr google doing searches: FROM 1/4 it is planned to resume through trains again! Tazarasite.com.
Of course 1st source would be to check seat61-will have much more and wide-spread train-travellers as this site, mostly aimed at UK-trainstaff+users in practice: it has a report which states that there will/would be no wait and a few reports on how to bridge that gap.
A best-known and world-wide touristy-forum like tripadvisor did not have any recent=from last 3 month, report on this-for TA its 98% on safari´s.
Still -personally never been there and not intend to either- I would wait till more definitive reports are there to confirm before booking expensive flite tickets to get there if this is your main point of going there. But of course all up to you and good luck with it!
BTW-purely aside-seat61 also has a bit of info on planned/being constructed/renovated/electrified other railines over there-in case you have more/wider plans to explore.

Hi @dutchflyer. Thanks for responding.

Can you confirm where you saw the news through trains will resume from 1st April?

I've been monitoring that website (and the Tazara Facebook page) for a while, but haven't seen that information anywhere.

I'm definitely going to go ahead with the trip, but with eyes wide open that in that part of the world, plans are never certain...

 

[dutchflyer]

Hello again-yes, you are right-found that myself too when checking further yesterday after writing that response. BTW I now sit in BKK/TH-hence the odd timings for EUR and this is/was purely out of interest and thinking there would not be that many answers on your Q in this forum-determined trainriders would likely wait till through service would be re-established.
Indeed a strange thing: when you just call up that tazarasite, it gives general info, incl hints on how to book now via sending @mails (not mentioned in seat61 as such), but not even in NEWS this announcement.
It however came on my 1st try: just on google (like) ´resumption or reopening the TAZARA railway´: as what looked like an announcement on that site- first in local language (I assume swahili?), then translated in /en/. In fact it even said ´with immediate effect´ that from 1/4 was for last years suspension.
I also follow regularly other well known rail-forums, like the german DSO and the weekly railjournal, who will surely report such things pretty soon after announcement, but for now cannot remember if they also published it.
I myself fairly often check via TA=TripAdvisor as its usually quite pro-rail biased and most of these ´one can expect these to come up as FAQ¨as for most areas it has a pool of well-willing knowledgeable locals always ready to give uptodate advice. If you remain uncertain-understandably, I would advise to also pst this Q there.

 

[SandsofEss]

It looks as though it's a regular occurrence that the service is curtailed in this way. So, always a gamble to plan a trip on it.

Thanks for the tip re: Tripadvisor. I rarely think to check there.

I'll report back here after my journey...

 

[SandsofEss]

I said I’d report back on my journey…

Last week I rode the TAZARA railway, starting in Kapiri Mposhi, Zambia.

Through service is currently suspended. I had planned to ride the two portions of the train separately.

We left New Kapiri Mposhi 2 hours late and arrived in Nakonde (the Zambian side of the border) around 5 hours late. Crossing the border on foot was relatively quick, but by the time we set foot in Tanzania it was already 18:00, the time the Tanzanian leg of the train was due to depart Mbeya, 120km away.

A taxi to Mbeya cost $40 USD for three people. En route, we called the stationmaster to ask if the train would be held, to learn it would instead start from Makambako that day (a further 200km away).

Our schedule didn’t allow us to wait for the next train, so we stayed a day in Mbeya (an unexpectedly lovely town), then took the daily Air Tanzania flight through to Dar es Salaam.

Absolutely no regrets though. The TAZARA is an increasingly rare experience, a long-distance international train on jointed track. And a wonderful way to see a little more of life in Zambia and Tanzania outside of the big cities.

 

[TFN]

Did you also manage to go on the new SGR between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma?

 

[SandsofEss]

Not this time - a compact trip. But I did eyeball the impressive infrastructure in Dar. Lofty concrete half-cylinders ploughing through the city.

 

[dutchflyer]

Thanks for thinking to this update on current situation.
Just at a random chance-I now sit in a cheap budget hotel beside Leipzig main station in Germany, there was an extended item on german TV here on Dar es Salaam-mostly aimed at showing how energy efficient they aim to be. As you say: skyscrapers going up and the usual food deliveries using electric bikes.
It had nearly ended when I turned it on-it also seems they now have started to operate a kind of local suburban service on the main line to promote using trains for daily commuters. But not a word on running trains all the way into Zambia for the current situation. Though I also guess its likely an older report recycled between other countries.

 

[tbwbear]

I had a similar experience between Kapiri and Nakonde in early March.

Here is my blog on the subject.... (Previous posts deal with the Zambezi - Livingstone to Ndola train)

2025 – Zambia – “Mukuba Express”

Using the Tazara Railway to get to the Tanzanian border

trainstobeyond.com

I am writing the Tanzania post about my bus journey from Tunduma to Dar, but whilst waiting in Dar I met a Tazara official who confirmed that the Tanzanian train that day had turned back short at Makambako too - apparently down to a level crossign incident on that day.

Hopefully the full Dar-Kapiri ride will be do-able again soon. I plan to go back sometime......

 

[SandsofEss]

Thanks for the link. Lots of interesting posts to browse on your site - it looks like we travel in similar ways.

Eerie to see the Tazara so empty in your pictures. It was about 75% full on the day we travelled.