Construction

In 1901, the Shire Highlands Railway Company was formed in Blantyre by British investors. He soon obtained a concession to build a railway connecting Nsanje, on the Shire River (at the southernmost point of the protectorate), to Mangochi, at the southern end of Lake Malawi, via Chiromo and Blantyre. The first section of this line, between Nsanje and Chiromo, was opened to traffic on 1 September 1904. The contract for the construction of a branch was awarded to the British South Africa Company, connecting Chindio and Nsanje, the latter becoming an important waterway connection port with the maritime city of Beira. The irregular river flow in the region — sometimes with large and destructive floods, sometimes with severe droughts — made safe navigation almost impossible, causing this option to be discarded and the continuation of a railway line to Quelimane to be abandoned.^[6]

The effective planning of what is currently the Sena railway would only begin in 1912, when a common understanding was signed between Nyasaland and the Portuguese administration in Mozambique, for the construction of a railway line that would connect Beira to the African Great Lakes.^[7]

Reopening of part of the section between Blantyre and Salima, in 1959, around the village of Changalume.

Between 1919 and 1922, Trans-Zambezia Railways, company winner of the tender for the construction of the southern section, concluded the connection between Dondo and Vila de Sena, in front of the city of Nhamayabué (or Mutarara), on the Zambezi River. The rest of the railway on the Mozambican side, between Nhamayabué and Vila Nova de Fronteira, was slowly completed until 1930. In 1930, therefore, the railway already connected Beira, Nhamayabué, Vila Nova de Fronteira, Nsanje, Chiromo and Blantyre, mainly transporting cotton from southern Malawi and from the Sena-Nhamayabué region, in addition to the sugar production by the company Sena Sugar Estates.^[8] The permission for the construction of the north-lakes stretch, beyond Blantyre, was later transferred to the company Central African Railways.^[9]

In order to cross the Zambezi River and continue the railroad operation, a ferry service was chosen, which paralyzed during the river's drought period. To eliminate the movement of the ferry, Nyasaland Railways Limited (resulting from the merger of the Shire Highlands Railway Company with the Central African Railways) and Trans-Zambezia Railways opted for the construction of the Dona Ana Bridge; the final cost of the bridge was £ 1.74 million and, for the rest of the 20th century, did not generate enough traffic to pay the interest rate, let alone repay the loans raised to build it.^[10]

The extension into Malawian territory towards the north, between Blantyre and Salima, was completed in 1935, reaching the important port of Chipoka, one of the largest on Lake Malawi.^[11]

In the 1940s, the Portuguese colonial government for Mozambique built a railway branch linking Dona Ana station, in Nhamayabué, to the coal mines of Moatize.^[12] The Dona Ana-Moatize branch line became operational in 1949, with a length of 254 km.^[1]

In the 1970s, with Mozambican independence, the extension of the line was agreed, which would depart from Salima towards the west, reaching Lilongwe and Mchinji. The works were completed and inaugurated in 1979.^[13]

Effects of civil war

The Sena railway was the main bulk transport link to Malawi until 1979, when it was destroyed by RENAMO forces in the Mozambican Civil War. As the Sena railway was interconnected with the Nacala railway, at the station in the Malawian city of Nkaya, since 1970, Malawi had its second rail connection with the port of Nacala, in Mozambique. In 1984, the Nacala railway link was also lost, when the Nacala railway was destroyed by RENAMO forces.^[14]

Reopening and expanding to the north

After the signing of the Rome General Peace Accords in 1992, there was an effort to reopen traffic, but devastating floods in 1997 in the valley of the Shire and Ruo rivers destroyed the important Bangula-Chiromo Road-Rail Bridge, connecting the villages of Bangula and Chiromo.^[15] The event defined the state of degradation of the line between Blantyre and Nhamayabué, which has been inoperative since then. The Bangula-Chiromo bridge was rebuilt in 2003, but the section of the line between Blantyre and Nhamayabué was left behind for being more sinuous and slower, in addition to the low draft and high cargo movement of the port of Beira. It fell into disuse as of 2010, with cargoes being redirected to the Nacala railway.^[16]

The subsequent discovery of mining areas in northeastern Zambia caused the railway to be extended from Mchinji (Malawi) to the locality of Chipata (Zambia).^[17][18][19] The works for this extension were completed in 2019, with Chinese funding.^[20]

In 2021, the Mozambican government started the rehabilitation of the section connecting Nhamayabué to Marka, with the expectation of having an auxiliary route for the transport of rail cargo from the south of Malawi.^[12] At the same time, the Malawian government tendered the recovery of the section between Bangula and Marka, establishing as a priority the recovery between Bangula and Blantyre (Limbe) in a second moment.^[21]