By Tinashe T. T. Mpasiri | 01 July 2026

There are few institutions that shape the destiny of nations more profoundly than a railway.

A railway does not simply transport passengers and freight. It transports ideas, capital, opportunity and hope. It reduces the distance between markets, lowers the cost of doing business, unlocks mineral wealth, connects farmers to consumers, creates towns, attracts factories and gives investors confidence that tomorrow’s opportunities can be reached.

Today, in our Banking on Africa’s Future – Corporate Heritage Series, we revisit 1 July 1979, when Rhodesia Railways officially became the Zimbabwe Rhodesian Railways, before assuming its current identity as the National Railways of Zimbabwe (NRZ) following Zimbabwe’s independence in 1980.

Yet this anniversary raises a far bigger question.

Who built Zimbabwe’s railway, why was it built, who financed it, and what lessons does its history offer Africa as the continent seeks to finance its own future?

Railways are born long before trains begin to move

The story begins in the late nineteenth century.

Southern Africa possessed enormous mineral wealth, fertile agricultural land and vast commercial potential. What it lacked was affordable transport.

Moving a tonne of goods hundreds of kilometres by ox wagon was slow, expensive and unreliable. Commerce could never flourish under such conditions.

The solution was not another law.

It was infrastructure.

The railway became the institutional bridge between resources and markets.

The birth of Rhodesia Railways

The railway traces its origins to 1893, when the railway enterprise was established under the administration of the British South Africa Company.

Construction had already begun from the south.

By 1897, the railway had reached Bulawayo.

By 1902, Salisbury (now Harare) was connected.

Over time the network expanded north into Zambia, west into Botswana and south into South Africa, creating one of Southern Africa’s most integrated transport systems.

This was one of Africa’s earliest examples of large-scale corporate infrastructure.

Who paid for the railway?

This is perhaps the most important corporate lesson.

Governments did not simply wake up one morning and decide to build thousands of kilometres of railway.

Railways required enormous amounts of capital.

That capital came through investors willing to finance infrastructure whose returns would only be realised decades later.

The British South Africa Company, under the leadership of Cecil John Rhodes, mobilised private capital through shares and debt, backed by expectations that mining, agriculture and trade would generate sufficient economic activity to repay investors.

In other words…

Capital financed infrastructure. Infrastructure created commerce. Commerce generated wealth. Wealth rewarded capital.

This remains one of the most enduring principles of economic development.

Railways are not an expense

They are productive assets.

Every kilometre of railway has the potential to:

•reduce transport costs

•improve export competitiveness

•attract investment

•stimulate industrialisation

•increase tax revenues

•create employment

•improve regional integration, and

•strengthen national resilience.

This is why virtually every major industrial economy invested heavily in rail during its development.

Britain.

The United States.

Japan.

China.

India.

Germany.

Their industrial revolutions travelled on steel rails.

Zimbabwe once possessed one of Africa’s finest railway systems

Following independence, Zimbabwe inherited one of the continent’s most respected railway networks.

The system connected mines, farms, factories and neighbouring countries.

At its peak, the railway transported millions of tonnes of freight annually and formed the backbone of Zimbabwe’s economy.

Mining companies depended on it.

Farmers depended on it.

Manufacturers depended on it.

Ports depended on it.

Entire communities grew because trains passed through them.

The railway was not merely moving goods.

It was moving the economy.

What changed?

History teaches us another lesson.

Infrastructure is not self-sustaining.

It requires continuous investment.

Locomotives must be replaced.

Tracks must be maintained.

Signals modernised.

Technology upgraded.

Skills transferred.

Institutions strengthened.

Over time, underinvestment, ageing equipment, declining freight volumes and competition from road transport weakened the railway.

Heavy trucks increasingly replaced freight trains.

Yet roads were never designed to carry such volumes indefinitely.

The consequences became visible:

•rising logistics costs

•deteriorating highways

•reduced mining competitiveness

•higher vehicle maintenance costs

•slower regional trade.

When rail declines, the entire economy pays.

China reminds the world why rail matters

Today, no country illustrates the transformative power of railway investment more than China.

Over four decades, China built one of the world’s largest and most advanced railway systems.

Rail became the backbone of manufacturing.

Exports became globally competitive.

Cities expanded.

Supply chains flourished.

Infrastructure became an engine of development rather than merely a government expense.

The lesson is profound.

Infrastructure does not consume wealth.

Well-managed infrastructure creates wealth.

Zimbabwe’s next railway chapter

Recent remarks by Zimbabwe’s Minister of Finance point towards an ambitious future.

Zimbabwe is exploring resource-backed financing with China Railway to rehabilitate and modernise its railway infrastructure.

This represents an important shift in thinking.

Instead of allowing mineral wealth to leave the country in its raw form, the proposal seeks to leverage those resources to finance productive national assets.

If properly structured, today’s minerals could finance tomorrow’s infrastructure.

Future generations would inherit functioning railways rather than depleted mines alone.

Why railway investment matters more than ever

Zimbabwe possesses world-class deposits of:

•lithium

•platinum

•chrome

•coal

•gold

•nickel

•iron ore

These minerals must reach markets competitively.

Rail remains the cheapest and most efficient means of transporting bulk commodities over long distances.

The same applies to grain.

Fuel.

Cement.

Steel.

Fertiliser.

Containers.

Every dollar saved in transport increases national competitiveness.

The opportunity before Africa

Africa is often described as resource-rich.

Perhaps a more accurate description is this:

Africa is infrastructure-poor.

Resources alone do not create prosperity.

Institutions do.

Infrastructure does.

Capital formation does.

Property rights do.

Predictable governance does.

Railways are simply one manifestation of these institutions.

Without them, resources remain buried beneath the ground.

With them, they become schools.

Hospitals.

Factories.

Universities.

Jobs.

Exports.

Tax revenue.

Prosperity.

The Corporate Heritage Lesson

One of the defining ideas behind the Banking on Africa’s Future – Corporate Heritage Series is that corporations are undertakers of promises.

The National Railways of Zimbabwe is one such promise.

A promise that farmers can reach markets.

A promise that miners can export.

A promise that manufacturers can compete.

A promise that investors can move capital efficiently.

A promise that communities separated by hundreds of kilometres can become one economy.

The railway teaches us that capital formation is never about steel alone.

It is about trust.

Trust that today’s investment will create tomorrow’s prosperity.

As Zimbabwe explores new financing models with China and other strategic partners, perhaps the most important question is not whether the country can rebuild its railway.

It is whether Zimbabwe can build institutions capable of preserving, maintaining and continuously improving that railway for the next one hundred years.

Because history teaches us that great nations are not remembered for the resources beneath their soil, but for the institutions they build above it.

And among the greatest institutions ever created by mankind is the railway, an iron promise that binds communities, markets and generations into a shared future.

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