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Transport, Works Supply & Communications
RAILWAY SYSTEMS OF ZAMBIA LTD
Benjamin Even
Chief Executive Officer
Mulungushi Village Complex, Lusaka
Tel: +260-211-290847
Fax: +260-211-290889
Benjamin.even@rszambia.net
www.nlpi.net
Railway Systems of Zambia Limited (RSZ) is a
private company whose focus is to provide freight
service on the former Zambia Railways network and
to operate passenger service between Livingstone
and Kitwe. They manage, develop and maintain ap-
proximately 1,200 kilometres of Zambian rail line.
This network covers the entire area between Saka-
nia (on the Democratic Republic of Congo border) to
Victoria Falls (on the Zimbabwe border). It includes
the Copperbelt and other major branch lines signifi-
cant to the Zambian transportation sector. RSZ also
has plans to extend their network to reach Tanzania
through an arrangement with TAZARA, the Tanza-
nian / Zambian Railway Company.
RSZ is a subsidiary of New Limpopo Bridge Pro-
jects Investments Ltd. (NLPI), an investment holding
company whose main focus is infrastructure-related
projects around Africa. In 2003 NLPI participated in
an International World Bank tender for the Zambia
Railways concession and was declared the winner
with the signing of the Freight and Passenger Con-
cession Agreements in February and August 2003,
respectively. The purpose of this tender was to en-
sure a “through Traffic” pre-arrangement along the
corridor from Durban to Lusaka and beyond. This
represents the foundation of Railway Systems of
Zambia Ltd. and was a milestone in the history of the
privatization of railways in the region.
The Consortium made a provision of US$40 million
for the rehabilitation of Zambia Railways. The World
Bank funded an additional investment of approximate-
ly US$30 million to finance Zambia Railways staff re-
trenchment packages, locomotive rehabilitation and
other related projects. Ongoing improvements to the
network include programs to upgrade track and rolling
stock, as well as staff training. State-of-the-art moni-
toring and IT systems have been installed to manage
operations and improve customer care.