Limpopo Railway, also called Gweru-Maputo railway, is a railway that connects the city of

Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

Mozambique Mozambique (), officially the Republic of Mozambique ( pt, Moçambique or , ; ny, Mozambiki; sw, Msumbiji; ts, Muzambhiki), is a country located in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi ...

, to the city from

Somabhula Somabhula is a village and ward (commune) in Midlands province in Zimbabwe. It is also the rail junction for Zimbabwe's southern links to neighboring Mozambique and South Africa. It was a major beef and mixed farming area until anala Mabena and ...

, in

Zimbabwe Zimbabwe (), officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country located in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the south-west, Zambia to the north, and Mozam ...

. It is 900 km long, in a 1067 mm gauge.Mozambique Logistics Infrastructure: Mozambique Railway Assessment
Atlassian Confluence. 10 de dezembro de 2018.
All Africa. 28 de agosto de 2018. On the Mozambican stretch, between

and

Chicualacuala Chicualacuala is a town located in the province of Gaza in Mozambique. The town is better known by this unofficial name (and the name of the district to which the town belongs) than by its official toponym Vila Eduardo Mondlane. History The c ...

, the managing company is

Mozambique Ports and Railways Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Moçambique (abbreviated CFM; in English Mozambique Ports and Railways) is a state-owned company that oversees the railway system of Mozambique and its connected ports. The rail system is composed of a total of 2,9 ...

(CFM); on the Zimbabwean stretch, between the cities of

Nyangambe Sango, also known as Nyala and Nyangambe, is a village and List of wards of Zimbabwe, ward (commune) in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe on the Mozambique border. The village supports the border post lying at the southern end of the Gonarezhou Natio ...

(Sango-Nyala) and

, the administration is done by the company

National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-owned company in Zimbabwe that operates the country's national railway system. It is headquartered in the city of Bulawayo. In addition to the headquarters, it has ...

(NRZ). Its main maritime logistics facility is the

port of Maputo The Port of Maputo, also called the Maputo-Matola port complex, is a Mozambican port located in the cities of Maputo and Matola. They are installed in Maputo Bay, on the north bank of the Espírito Santo estuary, which is separated from the Mozamb ...

History

The construction of a railway line that was to run parallel to the valleys of the Incomati and

Limpopo Limpopo is the northernmost province of South Africa. It is named after the Limpopo River, which forms the province's western and northern borders. The capital and largest city in the province is Polokwane, while the provincial legislature is ...

rivers began in the 1910s, initially connecting the city of Moamba, Magude and Ungubana, reaching the village of

Xinavane Xinavane is a town on the Incomati River, in the Manhiça District of Maputo Province, in Mozambique about 80 kilometres north of Maputo. Economy Tongaat Hulett Sugar grows sugarcane Sugarcane or sugar cane is a species of (often hybrid) tal ...

. This stretch was completed and entered into operations in 1914.D'Ornellas, Carlos
Caminho de Ferro de Limpopo
Gazeta dos Caminhos de Ferro. 16 october 1955. pg. 372 and 410Fernandes, José Manuel
Gaza, Moçambique: Enquadramento Histórico e Urbanismo
Heritage of Portuguese Influence / Património de Influência Portuguesa — HPIP. 4 june 2021 In May 1953, works on the line were resumed, connecting Ungubana (the Ungubana-Xinavane link became a railway branch) to Chócue and Canicado, then heading north, reaching Chicualacuala (formerly Malvernia) in 1955. The second stage of the line was inaugurated at a ceremony held on August 1, 1955, where Mozambican-Portuguese and Nyasaland-British colonial authorities were present. The Mozambican stretch initially connected Moamba and

, using the stretch of the Ressano Garcia railway between Moamba and

to access the

. In the 1960s the government of

Rhodesia Rhodesia (, ), officially from 1970 the Republic of Rhodesia, was an unrecognised state in Southern Africa from 1965 to 1979, equivalent in territory to modern Zimbabwe. Rhodesia was the ''de facto'' successor state to the British colony of S ...

completed the extension of the railway from Chicualacuala/Nyangambe, passing through

Rutenga Rutenga, is an important village in the province of Masvingo Province in Zimbabwe. It is the de facto capital of Mwenezi (District). There are unverified claims that the name “Rutenga” is derived from corruption by local natives of what th ...

, until reaching the

junction station. The

Mozambican Civil War The Mozambican Civil War ( pt, Guerra Civil Moçambicana) was a civil war fought in Mozambique from 1977 to 1992. Like many regional African conflicts during the late twentieth century, the Mozambican Civil War possessed local dynamics but was a ...

interrupted railroad traffic, causing, due to attacks and sabotages, the almost total degradation of the Mozambican section of the line. The Limpopo Railway was restored in the 1990s, but had to be practically rebuilt in 2004 after the damage caused by the floods in 2000 in the Limpopo and Incomati river valleys. After the reopening, it changed its route definitively, starting from Maputo and not from Moamba, going directly to Manhiça and Chócue; however, they have been operating well below cargo capacity, due to weak demand from Zimbabwe and other neighboring countries.

Railway branches

The Limpopo railway has two important branches: * Nandi-Mkwasine branch: connects the village of Mbizi to the village of Mkwasine.NRZ rehabilitates Chiredzi railway line
The Herald. 08 dec, 2017. * Noelvale branch: in the city of Zvishavane.

Railway connections

In Rutenga, the Limpopo line connects with the Rutenga-Beitbridge railway.Additional information’s, comments and other contributions to the history of 1 BN (Photos, documentation, comments, personal stories and experiences by former soldiers of the unit)
1 Battalion Guard Force. 2013. In

, the Limpopo line connects with the Beira-Bulawayo railway.Two empires, two railway projects
United World. 8 november 2021. In

, the Limpopo line connects with the Pretoria-Maputo railway and the

Goba railway Goba railway, also called Swaziland-Maputo railway and Matsapha-Maputo railway, is a railway that connects the city of Maputo, Mozambique, to the city from Matsapha, in Eswatini. It is 466.8 km long, in a 1067 mm gauge.Maputo Maputo (), formerly named Lourenço Marques until 1976, is the Capital city, capital, and largest city of Mozambique. Located near the southern end of the country, it is within of the borders with Eswatini and South Africa. The city has a popul ...

(junction railway station) * Manhiça * Chokwe *

* Sango-Nyangambe *

Mbizi Mbizi is a village in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe. It is the junction of the Gweru-Maputo and lowveld railway lines, operated by National Railways of Zimbabwe The National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ), formerly Rhodesia Railways, is a state-o ...

(junction railway station) *

Zvishavane Zvishavane (known until 1982 as Shabani) is a mining town in Midlands Province, Zimbabwe. Surrounded by low hills, it lies west of Masvingo, on the main Bulawayo-Masvingo road. Other roads lead from Zvishavane to Gweru, north, and Mberengwa, ...

(junction railway station)

References

{{reflist 3 ft 6 in gauge railways in Mozambique Railway lines in Zimbabwe Railway lines in Mozambique