Tanzania and Angola Move to Link the Indian and Atlantic Oceans by Rail ‎

Tanzania and Angola have agreed to connect their Indian Ocean and Atlantic Ocean transport corridors with a railway link through Zambia and the Democratic Republic of Congo, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan has said.

Under the plan, Angola's Benguela railway will join the Tanzania-Zambia (TAZARA) line to Dar es Salaam, linking the Lobito corridor on the Atlantic coast with the central corridor on the Indian Ocean coast. Speaking to reporters on Thursday, Hassan gave no date for completion.

Why it matters
If built, the link would create a coast-to-coast route across southern and central Africa. Landlocked Zambia and the DRC, major copper and cobalt producers, would gain a choice of two ports, one on each ocean, rather than depending on a single outlet. For Tanzania, the plan strengthens Dar es Salaam as a regional gateway. For Angola, it extends the reach of the Lobito corridor eastwards.

A contest of corridors
The project also has a geopolitical side. In 2025, China signed a $1.4-billion pact with Zambia and Tanzania to modernize TAZARA, which it had financed in the 1970s to facilitate copper exports and fuel imports. TAZARA has been widely seen as a counterweight to the US and EU-backed Lobito Corridor, a route from Angola through Zambia to the DRC. This week, Italian firm Webuild said it had won a tender to build a section of the Zambia Lobito Railway Corridor.

Joining the two systems suggests African governments want to benefit from both rather than choose a side, a position consistent with the continent's push for diversified partnerships.

Beyond rail
Energy is part of the conversation. Angola has invited Tanzania to invest in an oil refinery, and Tanzania Petroleum Development Corporation is assessing a partnership in the Lobito refinery project. Tanzania has yet to say whether it will take a stake in the refinery being built in Kenya by Aliko Dangote, and Tanzania and Uganda are discussing a joint refinery at Tanga.

Open questions
No completion date, cost or financing has been announced. Rail projects in Africa often face delays, funding gaps and differing track standards, and the DRC section raises security and governance questions. The plan will only matter if it moves from agreement to construction.

For West Africa, the lesson is clear: regional rail and port links can cut trade costs and strengthen bargaining power. The ECOWAS region has long discussed similar corridors.

Mustapha Bature Sallama
Medical/Science communicator, Private Investigator, Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Analysis,United States Institute of Peace (USIP), [email protected] +233555275880

Source: Reuters, via TRT Afrika.
References
TRT Afrika (2026). Tanzania, Angola to link ocean transport corridors by rail (Reuters). https://www.trtafrika.com/english/article/67adc133899e