ZAMBIANS will receive a Golden Jubilee gift from Government when the newly and completely refurbished passenger train arrives in the country in a couple of days’ time.
The 16-coach passenger train, refurbished by Transnet of South Africa, is due to leave Pretoria for Zambia today and is expected to take 10 days to transit up to Livingstone.
Transnet Engineering General Manager for Coaches Business, Mr. Peter Cona, said at the flagging off ceremony in Pretoria that the train christened, ‘The Golden Jubilee Express’ has been fully refurbished to bring it to internationally acceptable transportation hospitality standards.
Mr. Cona said the train has been fitted with six economy coaches, two standard, two sleeper, and one business class coach. The train, with a built-in modern kitchen, television screens, showers and air conditioning, also includes one restaurant, one baggage and one 250 kilowatt-power coach.
He said the train’s under frame has a 25-year life span.
Mr. Cona explained that ‘The Golden Jubilee Express’ will travel from Koedoespoort Station in Pretoria, through Zimbabwe to Beit Bridge before being handed over to Zambia Railways in Livingstone.
He said Transnet has already started refurbishing another train dubbed ‘Zambezi Express’ which will be delivered to Zambia.
The flagging off ceremony was witnessed by First Secretary for economic and trade at Zambia’s High Commission in South Africa, Mr. Mande Kauseni and other officials from Transnet.
looks okay inspite us having insulted them and not using our so called Euro bond to buy even 1 of this standard.Thank you south Africa.I can now call my mum from the south to visit the city by train for now before we vandalize them,lol. mushota have you noticed where we are in terms of development. THANK YOU SOUTH AFRICA,Zambia should now buy new ones of that standard .PF please just a ka surprise not this lip service of bena kambwili and his twin brother GBM and his young brother tho a bit sobber yafwa mukanga oh almost forgot the angry sis nkandu luo though super educated than any of them.lol!!! thank u
Umkhonto_we_Sizwe! Aluta continua!
Thank you SasAfrica. You have shamed some looters and parasites like the Brits who bled our country dry but have not gestured in manner that you have done! Southern Power. South Africa is better off with a strong neighbourhood which is empowered economically, socially and politically. Please cancel ALL our debts and forgive us our stupidity. We will have learnt our lessons not plunge in huge debt ever again.
************** HAPPY BIRTHDAY ZAMBIA **************
********************* 50 *********************
********* LUSAKA TIMES !!!!! IS THAT JOKE OF THE DAY ****** Come on guys!! We count on you. This is a huge gaffe! Don’t just say correction. This is huge. You need to apologise or just re write the heading. Kind advise.
A little too late here. Who still wants to travel by this ancient form of travel? The rest of the world moved to electric trains a long time ago, 50 years ago!
Well, congratulations PF even if this is not the sort of train Zambians were promised.
Is it a gift from South Africa or its PF who bought this second hand train so it could pocket part of the Eurobond money mean’t to buy an electric one?
Is this the train which needs to gobble another $150miilion sure?Is this the new train Attanga promised to deliver by October? . Why did he not say its a second hand train from South Africa? Well another lie.
This is exactly what MMD did when it came to power in 1991. It delivered a refurbished train as well. Unlike the deceitful PF, MMD used local talent and skill to refurbish the train, which resulted in jobs being created locally and money staying in Zambia.
PF always is lying.Why can’t it learn to tell the truth for once?
PF ni ba…
@Wanzelu, my friend lets be more gentle to our souls atleast up to Sunday.
That train looks just OKEY, except the public TV-screen, watching those Nigerian movies.
Looks Good: ZR Please look after that asset and make sure all Trains should at least have same standards. Not a bad start though we can do better and have bullet Trains. Where is the copper Money Going?
50 Years today: Zambians just think throu that almost all electronic devices have a copper component in it?? So why is our Country Poor?
Wow !! Electric train ? This is awesome !! These PF guys have working well.
@Nostradamus.
I have congratulated PF jokers for giving Zambians a second hand train which is earmarked to gobble another $150 million according to Fake prof. Attanga.
@Saulosi
Are you hallucinating? Does Zambia have an electric pantograph line to connect the electric trains to? When was it constructed mune?
The picture you are seeing is that of the train still in South Africa not in Zambia. Zambia shall have electric train only when serious men like HH ascends to power, not these PF jokers.
Whats happening in Zambia is bad omen seriously. How can the nation celebrate Jubilee when the head of state is bed ridden.If the Queen was her death bed ,UK would not go ahead and celebrate an occasion of this magnitude.
Its like people are celebrating that Sata is about to…
PF for you, they bought this from “salaula” scrap heep with our money, THEN CHEAT US saying it is a “Gift”!! They have made sure the majority illiterate remain CONDITIONED to be BEGGARS, thus grateful for what is legitimately & mandatorily theirs!!
That is great. Thanks to our good brothers and sisters of msanzi.
Donation? I though this was part of the Eurobond utilisation. I recall the CEO of Zambia Railways announcing that it would soon commission state of the art passenger coaches purchased/ rehabilitated from the Eurobond.
I was just wondering as well. Anyway thanx LT for correcting the mistake. Happy 50th Zambia.
Correction noted.
Though it looks good, I think he said a “new state of the art” train
Donated & refurbed trains is the easy part.When are Zambians going to refurbish,renew and reinvent themselves with better attitudes and a work ethic to make the next 50yrs better than de last 50yrs of mediocrity?
Ba SA ba tidelela !!! To hell with their donation !! Personally I dont want it !!!
You are jealous. South africans are just good.
@ Anderson.
Surely you have no same and you are enemy number 1 to good things. The coaches are so elegant.
Gvt must consider passenger train as alternative travel from Zed to SA..
And it will take 10 days to reach South Africa via this sort of train. Flying is less than 2 hours and going by road is even quicker.
This is the state of the art PF vuvuzelad?
Thanks so much and for good cooperation. We are your brothers and sisters
Good Job SA
Nomba very soon there will be goats, chickens, fresh and dry fish travelling on those coaches.. UBUTUTU TABWAKAPWE!!
hahahahahahahahahaha……………………………………………………….men u hav made me laugh! lungs out!!!!!!!!!!!!
What’s wrong with travelling with dry fish? How will my grandmother bring mundyoli for me from Mapanza?
nombaline baslashingamo amafi nefyashala.. just look at the washrooms at Manda Hill… tonse bali sokomona kale bakolwe!!
Is there any chance that this could be translated into English on this English site? Is it a question of lack of education?
iwe chimbwi wa muchila !!! Let me break it down for you … very soon you SUNTWE’S will smear that train with human feces.
I have always advocated for increased regional trade (SADC). Having lived and worked in various economic sectors of South Africa for the past twenty years, I can confidently state that Zambia does not have to look beyond the region for advanced technology. The road infrastructure being carried out by government would have been done by South African firms, working hand in hand with indigenous Zambian companies. STOP THIS TENDENCY OF GIVING EVERYTHING TO CHINESE JUST BECAUSE THEY ARE AMIABLE TO CORRUPTION. Let us develop our country by first promoting “BUY AND USE SADC COMMODITIES/TECHNOLOGY” and eventually move to “BUY AND USE ZAMBIAN COMMODITIE/TECHNOLOGY”. I fully understand that certain aids/grants come with specified conditions, but we have to start looking at our region.
bla bla bla bla .. geeez i hate those homophobic South Africans! To hell with their scrap!!
SA trains use overhead power (ZESCO) and not diesel.
Have they been modified?
Anyway the gesture is good BUT not befitting for country that is still clearing land mines which were planted during the war of SA liberation.
These are coaches and not trains/engines. Coaches are like trailers, any truck, mercedes, isuzu mitsubish and so on can pull them without any modifications
Look at those seats in economy class…they look like they were made from metal scrap… someone with a boney ass would not sit for long!
Business class looks like my local school bus in my new adopted country. Nothing special like Japanese Bullet Train “Shinkansen”
but good enough for the poor niggas back there..
What route exactly is this train meant to be servicing once fully operational? It is an express train and it is going to take 10 days from Pretoria to Livingstone!!? If this is the route it will be servicing when fully operational then we can forget about anyone using for business or even personal travel…not just economical to be travelling for 10 days when next alternative by bus will be 36hrs at the most. It does not matter how cheap the train will be..even if it was for free, 10 days is too much. Time is money. Worse still there is no way some-one can seat on those economy class seats for more than a few hours. The seats fitted in the train, even the business class ones only make sense for a commuter train…which makes me ask again what route will it be servicing?
It is not a gift from the South African government, but from the Zambian government.
I don’t understand how this is a gift. Will Zambians travel for free on these coaches, or will the tickets be cheaper than the ones on existing trains?
The word gift has been misused in the article.
Looks like most of you have failed to comprehend. These trains have not been donated but refurbished by GRZ at a cost.
IT’S A PITY HOW EVEN SIMPLE ENGLISH CAN BE MISUNDERSTOOD BY EVEN BLOGGERS FROM ENGLAND. SOUTH AFRICA IS MAKING BUSINESS OVER THIS STATE-OF-THE-ART (accordring to Attanga), train. TRANSNET HAS BEEN PAID BY ZRL TO REFURBISH THE COACHES [not locomotive (heads) engines] WHICH WHERE ON THE SCRAP HEEP. ACCORDING TO ATTANGA, BECAUSE ZAMBIANS DON’T KNOW THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN COACH AND LOCOMOTIVE (ENGINE), THEY WILL THINK THESE ARE NEW TRAINS. TRANSNET WERE MORE THAN HAPPY TO MAKE MONEY FROM SOMETHING RETRIEVED FROM THE SCRAP HEAP. CHINESE HYGER BUS COMPANY IN ZAMBIA COULD HAVE MADE SUPER COACHES WITHOUT LOCOMOTIVES. AND I MEAN SUPER COACHES.
That is why we need our lovely BEMBA to be used for communication than foreign engRisssh..
Last time I checked a lot of english people i spoke to in England could not even spell their only language correctly… and you expect Africans to do it better,.
Awe!!!
when I was in Tokyo i met a Japanese who wanted to speak to me only in bemba…and Yesterday a Muzungu KUNO KUBULAYA greeted me in Bemba when he found out that i was from Bembaland Zambia it was so sweeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
From Pretoria to Livinstone in 12 hours. From Livingston to Lusaka in 12 days.
Its not a donation naimwe! Zrl bought these coaches from transnet.
ZR, Mr Attanga, are you sure we should not first concentrate on cargo service seeing that the passenger transport sector is currently well served by buses? I mean should you stretch your meagre resources and in the same breath ask us to borrow more for you?
Everything is outsourcing. …you have coachworks in Kapri but you choose to give some else employment. 50 years after independence and you have the audacity to call this a gift. …what a shame! !
Jay Jay, Zambia does not outsource everything and besides there is no country that does not outsource. Even the power house China outsources many products. All the engineers and whatever you call yourselves you are in the diaspora and expect everything to be manufactured at home, by who?
We have coachworks factory in Kapri that just needs equipping and machinery. ..its better to avail skilled job opportunities there than merely ordering carriages from RSA. This is how the provide skillef job opportunities in Europe, China ….this is taxpayer’s money we are putting into the RSA economy.
Jay Jay, we have no coach factory in Kapiri – ZRL have a workshop that can refurbish coaches, wagons and locomotives in Kabwe (New workshops) and Tazara have one at Mpika
Aisha azanyamula chiwathu mu chitima. Chitima chabola alimwi!!! Tulapenga. Lets hope our brothers and sisters in Southern province will not be carrying Hapongo and Chiwathu, eventually damage the train.
CAN’T ZAMBIA RAILWAYS COME WITH BEAUTIFUL TRAIN COLORS, PLEASE. EVEN BRANDING WE CAN’T DO IN ZAMBIA, SURE! THIS RED COLOR ESPECIALLY IF IT IS NOT METALLIC IS HORRIBLE. FOR SURE EVEN IF YOU WANT ACHIEVE NATIONAL COLORS THERE SOME GOOD DESIGNS OUT THERE IN THE WORLD. IT AMAZES ME WHY ZAMBIANS LACK INNOVATION ELEMENT IN THEM- MUSIC, DRESS DESIGN, ARCHITECTUAL DESIGN, CIVIL ENGINEERING (even a simple foot path bridge), ETC, WE CAN’T. NOW, ARE THOSE THE NEW TRAINS ATTANGA PROMISED? WHERE HAS HE TAKEN THE MONEY FOR THE NEW TRAINS THAT HE PROMISED ZAMBIANS?
Zambian’s can be dull indeed! The officials even have the audacity to call this a gift!!!
After looting the Eurobond, they go and buy second-hand coaches which Transnet was getting rid of after upgrading their fleet. Cry our beloved country!
…only people who have not travelled extensively will appreciate and get excited with such antics……in other countries, exact similar coaches we are seeing in the photos above are actually in a museum….
This just demonstrate that our politicians have no will what so ever to create employment…..In Kabwe, we have one of the biggest railway rehabilitation workshop in Africa. All we needed was to buy these antics from South African salvage yard on scrap value or even negotiating for them for free considering what Zambia sacrificed and did for SA during the Apartheid fight…..transport the antics as they were to ZR workshop for transformation. Imagine how many Kabwe residents, though briefly, could have benefited..??
…..because of selfishness and greed compounded with pilfering minds, they chose to single outsource the project……the article deliberately avoids mentioning the ‘colossal’ amount we had to pay for the so called ‘gift’…..This is the time we require investigative journalism..
I wouldn’t be surprised to learn that one of the top ZR or govt top official has acquired a house/mansion in south Africa during this period….
You are absolutely spot on. ..these are relics than could have been easily assembled in Kapri. ..the guys in RSA merely put coat of paint and new seats on rusty carriages.
TO BE HONEST, CLIVE CHIRWA’S CORPORATE PLAN WAS THE BEST. DIVIDING ZRL INTO ENGINEERING (Kabwe), TRANSPORT (goods and passenger), SALES AND MARKETING etc. I WAS PARTICULARLY INTERESTED IN ENGINEERING WHICH WAS GOING TO DESIGN AND MAKE TRAINS. SO, MERELY DESIGNING AND MANUFACTURING A STATE-OF-THE-ART COACH WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE THAN FEASIBLE SINCE THE AIM WAS TO MAKE TRAINS (locomotives). THESE IDEAS ARE WAY ABOVE ATTANGA. THAT’S WHY CHIRWA WAS SOLICITING FOR $ABILLION OR MORE TO START THE PROJECT. CHIRWA ALSO MODULARIZED THE RAIL TRACK FOR EASY HANDLING OF SMALLER COMPONENTS. IT PAINS ME THAT CHIRWA LET THESE BUFFOONS DRIBBLED HIM.
CHIRWA’S APPROACH WAS GOING TO BE THE REAL INDUSTRIALIZATION (MODERNIZATION) OF ZAMBIA. WITH A MODERN TRAIN, COMPANIES WHICH SHOULD HAVE STARTED UP ARE SOFTWARE ENGINEERING (to design software for automating trains and other related operations), MECHANICAL ENGINEERING (to design mechanical components of trains and rail tracks), CIVIL ENGINEERING (related to rail track design), UPHOLSTERY ENGINEERING(related to design and manufacture of all train upholstery-seats, etc), TANNING AND METAL (to forge/shape metal etc), SUPPLY COMPANIES AND MANY ENDLESS LIST OF COMPANIES RESULTING FROM THE RIPPLE EFFECT. THAT WOULD HAVE BEEN THE START OF MODERNIZATION OF ZAMBIA. IT’S A SHAME!
Another backwards step from PF government securing old, discarded, refurbished train coaches as a gift to Zambia. This is totally unacceptable in this day and age when we have electrical well designed trains on the market. Seen these coaches in Manchester museum which were used for transporting slaves from Liverpool in the 1830s. Zambia needs brand new leaders exposed to the world who at a glance will scan the world over and arrive at decision with an informed mind. Its a sham under Sata.
That is the problem with our people, do you have a slight idea of the infrastructural spend that would go into setting up electric trains?, we are of course heading into that direction. for now this will do, my only hope is that it still has some life in it. God bless Zambia
Lovely, I can’t wait to travel by the Jubilee Express, kamucete ma bag, Twasiika!!
Good development though Mazokas 1975 Kafue and Luangwa trains were more classic than this one .
I agree. I often travelled on the Luangwa one. Niyamene inali dobadoba ka?
# Out Of Africa, I am with you. Soon the seats will be broken or filthy with bags of charcoal and chickens etc.talk about the toilets, there won’t be water. RUBbish will be thrown on the floor. Good start but Chirwa had a plan than this. Atanga man.
The last time I used a passenger train, it took 3 days to get from Ndola to Monze and that was 27 years ago. Has anything changed or have they created new routes? I doubt. Is it possible to run a passenger train profitably with all the buses on the roads?
The scarp is good enough for transporting 3rd World citizens…specially goats and sugarcane!! You can not compare that to ???, [???kaãs?? ….Bullet Train!!
meant to type ” THE SCRAP”
Ba LT yaba ichisungu.
ZAMBIANS will receive a Golden Jubilee gift from Government when the newly and completely refurbished passenger train arrives in the country in a couple of days’ time.
Couple of days.
Couple = 2
The 16-coach passenger train, refurbished by Transnet of South Africa, is due to leave Pretoria for Zambia today and is expected to take 10 days to transit up to Livingstone.
10 days to transit up to Livingstone.
I’m confused.
Zamule I didn’t see your response. I got similarly confused
ZRL should have done better by way of sourcing morden passenger trains coaches from japan.if Zambians are importing used cars that are shipped from japan why not ship standard and morden train coaches from Tokyo or Yokohama?
You cannot build a new future on old infrastructure even if you add a twist of colours. Clive had the right idea, build your own coaches and design them the way you like. First you send people for medical treatment to South Africa and now you think sending trains for treatment will wow the Zambian people? Zambian mentality always baffles me!
Building on not only to run passenger and cargo trains but creating a separate sister entity to Zambia Railways to engineer build rail trains and Engines including support rail infrastructure support will be creating value to export to countries like Malawi Angola and others taking advantage of the steel we have the logs and quarry stones we posses in Numbers.
A start up with proper well though engineering setup with workable partners including the same ZR rail professionals in the sector
Transnet is leading in this and we can also follow through with confidence over the horizons see the options well savings were we can and making returns as we create value
Ba reporter you say “…..passenger train arrives in the country in a couple of days’ time.”
But then you go on to tell us:
“The 16-coach passenger train, ……..is expected to take 10 days to transit up to Livingstone.”
Nikufunta uku. A couple of days is two or loosely within that region. i.e. three may be four can be accepted not ten days. Thats more like a couple of weeks!
Good job Zambia Railways. Please keep them well. Not vandalism. Come up with right fare to avoid vandalism….