The Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) on Thursday appealed to member states to inject more funds to improve the railway line's operations and performance.

Bentram Kiswaga, TAZARA deputy managing director, said in a statement that additional investments will go a long way in ensuring the performance of the railway is improved.

Kiswaga said the bi-national railway needs to procure 20 reliable locomotives to increase carriage capacity.

Currently, the Chinese-funded and -built railway has only seven reliable locomotives used for passengers and wagons with each one carrying 30,000 tonnes annually.

Citing achievements scored for three years (2014/2015 up to May 2018), the official noted that TAZARA freight volumes had increased from 88,000 tonnes to 208,000 tonnes.

Others scores were the improvement of transit time from 20-30 days to 5-7 days consistently and almost zero theft in the last three years.

Kiswaga said despite the achievements, it was unable to pay salaries as it is not making profits. TAZARA needs to transport 600,000 tonnes annually to be profitable.

Xinhua