Rehabilitation works of the 98-kilometre Limbe-Nkaya railway line have been completed and given way to the resumption of passenger train services, Nacala Logistics has announced in a statement.
The company said the passenger train services between Blantyre and Balaka will resume this Saturday.
Reads the statement in part: “Nacala Logistics would like to notify the general public that all maintenance work on the railway line between Limbe and Nkaya has been completed.
“Therefore, on September 25 2021, the passenger train will move from Limbe to Balaka, marking the normal resumption of the passenger train service.”
Maintenance works on the railway line were initially launched in 2013 by former minister of Transport and Public Works the late Mohammad Sidik Mia.
In an interview on Monday, a Bangwe-based businessperson Emmanuel Nkata said the completion of the maintenance works is a good development as it will ease transport challenges.
“I am delighted because instead of using expensive modes of transport, we will use the passenger train,” he said.
On his part, a Blantyre resident, Christopher Gama, also expressed joy with the resumption of the passenger train services.
“I will be able to travel to Namatunu in Zomba by train as the Lirangwe-Chingale-Machinga Road is under construction,” he said.
The railway line passes through areas without good road network such as Namatunu and Gwaza in Zomba, Utale and Nkaya in Balaka and Molipa and Nayuchi in Machinga. The Limbe-Nkaya railway line rehabilitation was one of the projects government championed to complement the public private partnership to realise aspirations outlined in the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy II which prioritises transport and infrastructure development.
