History of rail transport in Malawi

However, the main areas of economic activity in the BCA were around Blantyre in the Shire Highlands, over 80 km (50 mi) from Chiromo, and transport to the river was costly and inefficient.

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.

In 1914, the British South Africa Company built the Central African Railway of 98 km (61 mi) from Port Herald to Chindio on the north bank of the Zambezi.

The Trans-Zambezia Railway, constructed between 1919 and 1922, ran 269 km (167 mi) from the south bank of the Zambezi to join the main line from Beira to Rhodesia.

When the sections were finally connected, the line between Dondo (Mozambique) and Blantyre (Malawi) was named Sena railway.

All the rail lines were narrow gauge and single track, and the Shire Highlands Railway in particular had sharp curves and steep gradients, so the system was inadequate for heavy train loads.

The project cost £5.4 million, financed by a long-term, low-interest loan from the Industrial Development Corporation of South Africa.

[10][6] An extension of the Sena railway, starting from the city Salima, towards the west, reaching Lilongwe and Mchinji, was completed in 1979.

[11] In 2017, the Nacala railway link was extended west from Nkaya junction to the coal mines at Moatize in Mozambique.

998–1003 illustrated account of the railways of Nyasaland Media related to Rail transport in Malawi at Wikimedia Commons