The National Railways of Zimbabwe has received 11,000 pieces of rail imported from China under a US$10 million deal expected to help upgrade some parts of Zimbabwe's outdated rail network, The Herald reported on Monday.

 

NRZ general manager Mike Karakadzai said about 10,400 pieces of rail had so far been delivered to Rutenga Railway Station from Maputo in Mozambique. This is part of the nearly 15,000 pieces of rail that were imported by NRZ from China. The remaining 4,000 pieces are expected to be brought in soon.

 

Karakadzai, who was speaking at a ceremony in Rutenga, said the pieces would be taken to NRZ headquarters in Bulawayo where they will be joined into longer pieces.

 

"The rail is enough to be utilized on about 133 kilometers. We decided to offload the rail pieces here at Rutenga out of economic considerations since it would be cheaper to first deliver them here rather than Bulawayo so that we can speedily bring all the imported material," said Karakadzai.

 

The Reserve Bank of Zimbabwe contributed 3 million U.S. dollars while 7.4 million U.S. dollars was sourced by NRZ from New Limpopo Bridge Projects Investments, which runs the Bulawayo-Beitbridge Railway Company.

 

Karakadzai said some rail pieces would be used to re-rail curves while others would be used to repair damaged rail on the Mpopoma to Dete section. The other pieces would be used in the manufacture of turnouts and frozen joints.

 

The NRZ boss said Zimbabwe's rail network that spans about 2,759 km with about 365 km of these under speed restrictions and requiring re-railing or concrete sleepers or both.

 

(Xinhua News Agency October 31, 2006)