Zambia has two main railway systems namely, the Zambia Railway Limited (ZRL) which is wholly owned by the Government of the Republic of Zambia (GRZ) with 100% shares sitting under the Industrial Development Corporation (IDC) and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) which is owned on a 50-50 basis by the United Republic of Tanzania and the Republic of Zambia.

         The ZRL main network spans a distance of 848 Km mainline from Copperbelt Province to the Tourist Capital of Livingstone located in the Southern Province of Zambia. It extends to other regional networks in Zimbabwe and South African import and export border facilities.

          The TAZARA network is 1,860 Km spanning from the port of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania to New Kapiri Mposhi, a town located in the Central Province of Zambia.

          Both Railway networks were strategically aligned to facilitate smooth movement of minerals from the Copperbelt Province of Zambia to various export destination markets. Further, the railway systems were designed to support importation of other mining inputs as well as inputs to aid infrastructure development.