Railways

Generally speaking, colonial powers constructed railways in Africa for the following reasons:
1. To gain access to the interior.
2. To gain strategic control of colonial territories.
3. To gain a route through which raw materials from the territories could be exported to the western world where the colonialists came from.
The railways constructed were not well co-ordinated and were often of different gauges. Most of these ran directly inland for strategic control rather than for economic reasons. Most African countries have had to modernize their railway networks so as to gain economic benefits from their operations. A good example is that of die Tanzam railway which is designed to provide Zambia with an alternative important export route and to open up remote parts of Tanzania.
The railways in Africa are not very adequate. Most regions of Africa are experiencing tremendous economic  development. This has created a strain on the existing railways as tins development has not been accompanied by a similar rate of development of the transport system.
A good example of this inadequacy is the railway system in Nigeria. The national economic development in Nigeria has by far outstripped the railway network. The network was completed at the beginning of this century and the tracks are lightweight and of a narrow gauge with bridges not designed to carry today's heavy trains. Therefore, the speeds are slow and traffic congestion is very common. The Nigerian government has started a new project to rectify this. Already over 1,000 km of standard gauge single track, avoiding major curves and gradients, has been constructed. The old track is to be unproved and altered to standard gauge, more rolling-stock is to be provided, bridges are to be strengthened, and major railways and workshops are to be constructed in Lagos and Enugu.
In Africa there are two major railway links.
1. The Tazara (Tanzam) Railway (which has already been dealt with), and
2. The Trans Cameroun Railway,