Tanzania intends to pull out of the joint railway operation with Zambia (Tazara) after its partner introduced a domestic passenger train from Copper Belt to Nakonde against the agreement between the two countries.

Tanzania Minister for Transport, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe said the government wanted to pull out after Lusaka ignored calls to stop using the cross border line for national locomotives.

“Yes we want to pull out but they (Zambia) are the ones who began violating,” he said.

Tazara Public Relations Officer Conrad Simuchile said passenger services run by the two governments’ agencies would terminate at the border station of Nakonde denying traders seamless flow between the two countries.

“The Zambia Passenger train whose stock has always been managed by the Zambian region of Tazara and the Kilimanjaro Passenger train, whose stock has always been managed by the Tanzanian region of Tazara, will no longer cross the border. They will operate in their respective regions,” he said.

Mr Simuchile added that the decision to run the two trains independently follows a directive from the owners of the company, the Tanzanian and Zambian governments.

Dr Mwakyembe was quoted this week saying the decision to separate the operations of Tazara was reached at the recent Tazara Council of Ministers meeting in Lusaka.

“Effective August this year, Tanzania will have its permanent leadership regional manager and not acting heads as it is now. However, the government is planning on embarking on a new train route from Dar es Salaam to Mbeya without crossing the border to Zambia,” the minister said.

However, The Zambia Minister of Transport, Works, Supply and Communications Yamfwa Mukanga accused Tanzania of misrepresenting the position of the council of ministers.

“We did not discuss that, but we spoke about a mapping strategy on how we will enhance the operations of Tazara and the introduction of call centres,” Mr Mukanga said adding that Zambia was in a position to run the operation independently. He said the dispute would be the subject of a ministerial council to be held in Tanzania next month.

Tazara was constructed as a turnkey project between 1970 and 1975 through an interest-free loan of $500 million from China, with commercial operations starting in July 1976, covering 1,860km from Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.

READ: Don’t split Tazara, China warns Dar

The operation has faced challenges with the two countries unable to inject required capital.

“For the past five months workers did not get their salaries, the company had no means to operate because the two countries cannot even provide money for fuel,” a source said.

Three weeks ago Tanzania and Zambia had agreed to inject $80 million over one year into the loss-making company after decades of under-investment.

The injection was to start with an immediate injection of $9.2 million to offset salary arrears and support operations.

Tazara needs $211 million over five years with the balance expected to be raised from private sources.