History Of Rail Transport In Malawi

The history of rail transport in Malawi began shortly after the turn of the twentieth century.

Transport by rail was introduced to British Central Africa Protectorate (BCA), the British protectorate occupying present-day Malawi, in 1904. Three years later, the name of the area was changed to Nyasaland.

Railways have continued to serve the area ever since, including in the period since Malawi became independent in 1964.

British colonial period

Background

From the 1890s, small river steamers operated between Chinde at the mouth of the Zambezi and Chiromo on the Lower Shire River, a distance of . However, the main areas of economic activity in the BCA were around Blantyre in the Shire Highlands, over from Chiromo, and transport to the river was costly and inefficient. Steamers also navigated the Upper Shire and Lake Nyasa (now Lake Malawi), but about of the Middle Shire was impassable. Railways could supplement water transport and, as the BCA was nowhere nearer than to a suitable Indian Ocean port, a short rail link to river ports was more practical than a line direct to the coast.

Shire Highlands Railway

Low Shire River levels after 1896 made water transport more difficult. In 1901, the Shire Highlands Railway Company was formed by Blantyre-based investors. It soon obtained a concession to build a railway from Port Herald (now Nsanje) on the Shire River at the southernmost point of the protectorate, to Fort Johnston (now Mangochi), at the southern end of Lake Nyasa, via Chiromo and Blantyre. The first section of this line, between Port Herald and Chiromo, was handed over to traffic on 1 September 1904.

Further construction of the railway was greatly hampered by a difference in elevation of more than between Chiromo and Blantyre. The difficulties were so severe that the Shire Highlands Railway ran out of funds, with the consequence that another company, the British South Africa Company, assumed the task of completing the section, which was finally opened on 23 January 1909. Additional reductions in the Shire River's flow made Port Herald unsatisfactory, so a Zambezi port was needed.

Central African Railway

In 1914, the British South Africa Company built the Central African Railway of from Port Herald to Chindio on the north bank of the Zambezi. From there, goods went by river steamers to Chinde then by sea to Beira, involving three transhipments and delays. The Central African Railway was poorly built, and soon needed extensive repairs.

Trans-Zambezia Railway

In the early 20th century, Beira developed as a major port: it was far superior to Chinde, which was severely damaged by a cyclone in 1922. The Trans-Zambezia Railway, constructed between 1919 and 1922, ran from the south bank of the Zambezi to join the main line from Beira to Rhodesia. Its promoters had interests in Beira port, and they ignored its high cost and limited benefit to Nyasaland or a shorter alternative route to the small port of Quelimane. River transport was practically defunct after 1935. The only recorded traffic on the Shire River within Nyasaland was a seasonal service run by the Shire Highlands Railway for the collection of cotton and other produce between Chiromo and Chikwawa.

Nyasaland Railways Limited

The Zambezi crossing remained the weak point in the link to Beira. The ferry used old steamers towing barges between Chindio on the north bank and Muracca on the south bank, and its capacity was limited. For two months a year the river was too shallow, at other times it flooded.

In 1930, Nyasaland Railways Limited was formed. The new company acquired the Shire Highlands Railway and Central African Railway, and made plans to extend the railway north and south. In 1935, the ferry was replaced by the construction of the Dona Ana Bridge (or Zambezi Bridge), over long, creating an uninterrupted rail link to the sea. The new bridge crossed the Zambezi upstream from the Chindio-Muracca ferry.

The northern extension from Blantyre to Salima near Lake Nyasa was also completed in 1935, and a terminal for lake services was developed at the nearby lake port of Chipoka. The government turned over operation of lake services to Nyasaland Railways, who operated cargo and passenger services between ports on the lake.

After the completion of the Dona Ana bridge, connecting the railway sections of Malawi and Mozambique became possible. When the sections were finally connected, the line between Dondo (Mozambique) and Blantyre (Malawi) was named Sena railway in Mozambique, to give Malawi access to the seaport of Nacala in northern Mozambique. The new railway connected to Malawi's north–south line at Nkaya, and to the existing Nacala line at Nova Freixo in Mozambique (present-day Cuamba). The line was inaugurated by President Hastings Banda on 4 July 1970 and began operations on 3 August. The project cost £5.4 million, financed by a long-term, low-interest loan from the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.Nkana, Robert (1999). "Malawi Railways: an Historical Review." ''The Society of Malawi Journal'' Vol. 52, No. 1 (1999), pp. 39-45 An extension of the Sena railway

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