Friday, March 29, 2024

Modern train coming this month, Zambians will be surprised- Atanga

Share

ZAMBIA Railways Limited acting chief executive officer Muyenga Atanga giving instructions to his staff on company's operations during tour of ZRL Kitwe station.
ZAMBIA Railways Limited chief executive officer Muyenga Atanga giving instructions to his staff on company’s operations during tour of ZRL Kitwe station.

The Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) has maintained that a modern train is coming to Zambia before the end of this month.

Company Chief Executive Officer, Professor Muyenga Atanga, has told QFM News in an interview that the people of Zambia will be surprised with the state of the art modern train the company is bringing to Zambia this month.

Professor Atanga states that the modern train will be one of the greatest gifts the Zambian people will receive as they commemorate 50 years of Golden Jubilee.

Professor Atanga says the people will see a train they have never seen before and they will be proud of the achievements of the Zambia Railways Limited.

He says the company is comprised of hard working and focused personnel who are willing to add value to this country and that they will always strive to bring the best to the country.

84 COMMENTS

    • Importing a train is NOT development KaTanga kingdom. Are we making a modern train ourselves? That’s what we need. That’s permanent job creation. atase!

    • Have they got that second hand train on kaloba?

      It would have to made a lot of sense if they mobilised Zambian engineers to design and build our own train transport system so that its maintenance will be cheap and affordable. And in the process develop a skills base that can begin to develop other transport systems and create employment. In this way the country would benefit from huge savings made and product export to other African countries.

      What is needed to achieve this are metal shaping(moulding ,forging and casting) and polishing machines, polymer moulding machines,heavy lifting gear, and Materials.

      I believe it can be done if the government is willing to fund such projects. Just about $300,000,000 can kick start the project straight away from a scratch.
      One day I will…

    • I studied in London and New York. The ‘tube’ fascinated me for its speed and saftey. Then there is the GTV in France and the bullet trains of Japan and China. Having seen these, and being a Zambian, I await with bated breath for the surprise from my friend Prof Atanga of Zambia Competition Commission.

    • In Senegal the constructing a bullet train network and this man is talking about surprising us with a locomotive engine…my Zambia!

    • MODERN TRAIN TO RIDE ON THOSE SLIPPERS THEY ARE STANDING. BE SERIOUS ATANGA. WELL, AT LEAST CHIRWA ORDERED THE TRAIN BEFORE YOU PHD HIM.

    • ANYWAY, THAT WILL BE GOOD FOR THE TRAVELLING PUBLIC TO BE PRESENTED WITH AN ELECTRICAL TRAIN. IT’S LONG, LONG, LONG OVERDUE ZAMBIANS STARTED TRAVELING ON A DECENT TRAIN WITH HIGH SPEED. THIS WILL GIVE BUS OPERATORS A RUN FOR THEIR MONEY. BECAUSE, WITH SO MANY ACCIDENTS ON BUSES I WOULD RATHER USE A TRAIN.

    • Read the article well. He says it is a gift. They can’t afford a modern train these monkeys. And he says we will be surprised. Who has never seen a modern train. Have taken a ride in Gautrain In RSA?

  1. If all government employees where as resourcefull and hard working as Dr Atanga Zambia would have been a very developed nation. Well done Zambia Railways you are doing a great job.

    • Thank You ZRL, CEO, but it could have been more appropriate and better if you excited us with this prior arrival announcement after the ‘modern train’ had already arrived in Zambia, to avoid your usual anticipated change of heart and date of arrival of the ‘announced train’ to even next year probably!

  2. I highly doubt and this is what is the problem with putting paid up party cadres in strategic positions.

    Even if they deliver a modern train, it will flop within a month. This man is just supposed to sit down and do the real work. Everybody knows that the heart of any raily system is the Rail Trucks and the Signalling System, and NOT the trains that move on it. As far as we can see, the same old rail track with its old signalling system is still in place and has not be replaced with the modern one. So to claim to surprise Zambians is plain childish and playing to the gallary by this PF cadre.

    Few months ago they told us to stop reading online media becoz ZNBC TV is streaming news. Where is the project today? ..DEAD. Stop surprising us and just do real work

    • Exactly my thoughts.

      That is the problem. It is like buying expensive cars without proper roads to drive on.

      ZRL should have followed the plan Chirwa offered to the nation.

      It is insulting to say Zambians have not seen the train ZRL are bringing because some Zambians may have travelled on them. Also, be selective in the use of language, the train is not a gift. Who is buying it for us with their own cash?

    • The problem with these cadres in strategic positions is that they have been brain washed by lies and do not realise it when they are lying. I guess a modern train can’t effectively operate without electric systems in place. Sad, we have cadres who believe in lies and propagate them even in professional positions

    • @gundixy I totally agree with your sentiment and concerns but the purchase of the new train will greatly assist Zambia in revitalising the railway sector as a public transport alternative to commutters. We have to start somewhere, and this is as good a start as any. The comparison with the purchase of luxury govt vehicles is not valid as this train will cater for all Zambians and not a few govt officials who I agree should not be driving new luxury vehicles while the roads are terrible. Its one step at a time.

    • I now understand why Clive Chirwa questioned the legitimacy Professorship. We are seeing derailments every day and this should have been there prime concern than surprising Zambians with modern train. Ukutumpa ba “prof”

    • @chatsha the PF govt got euro bond and ZRL benefited so much from this huge cash and immediatly embacked on rail track overhaul which saw alot of concrete sleepers bought and replacment is still going on.I like this dude he has the driving force and the qualification will assist.wishing you luck ..

  3. 2020vision sounds like Muyenga Attanga himself or the wife, or indeed one of the children. Its only about a month ago when we heard that Zambia Railways posted a loss of K15 million under Attanga. This figure was even understated and is far much more than what Membe and Mutembo Nchito owe DBZ.

    • @watchman You know ZRL retook operations from Zambia Railways Systems, a company owned by Dutch and South African Jews that were ripping Zambia off and left that firm with massive debt and completely dilapidated infrastructure. Let’s be fair here, ZRL had to recapitalise every thing, it was like starting from scratch and right now these losses are as a result of the massive recapitalising. In the next 3 to 5 years ZRL will be running at a profit. Be fair even if you hate this government, try to be fair in your assesments don’t just get angry because your uncle was recalled from foreign service where he was part of the former Pres Rupiah’s plundering committee. Atanga is working and non of you foreign based thieving imbeciles like Chirwa can do better.

  4. This sounds like good news. However, as far as I know, a modern train cannot run on our existing rails. Then what train is this? May this is something that our friends out there stopped using some 10 years ago.

    • it doesn’t really matter, what matters is the design of the coaches being used and infra structure will be built along side the existing one. We do have surface trains running in the US and Europe where I have properties and I use these trains to go from A to Z when in France and England or in the US where I mainly reside.

    • ….could someone help me understand why I have gotten 4 downward arrows on this point. I am directly answering Edochie above^ Please be aware that we are light years behind the US, Western Europe, Japan or even South Africa and therefore be realistic in your wishes!! Are you all so “unprintables”? Are you grade 7s? am I just wasting my time on LT and talking to a bunch of twits? You can’t expect to have electric trains at this point when we haven’t got the infra structure for it. Ok, I also blame it on Atanga, the dissemination of news is wrong – he said it as if he was talking to his kids and using his own money. I wonder what kind of a doctor he is — street doctor more like. Forgive me bloggers.

  5. the reason many people believe there’s a god is people have the need to be able to blame their problems on someone else. Let’s not forget Satan; by default, he is the one blamed when something bad happens.

    On the other hand, having a god can be an excuse for repeatedly doing evil things. Once we know that there is a supreme being who is capable of forgiving our sins we will do whatever we want to do. It’s simple. Once you’ve done something immoral, all you need to do is pray and ask for forgiveness. Isn’t it great? Now that is where the bullshit plays a great role. What pisses me off, people spend Saturday nights partying, doing drugs, abusing women, etc., and come Sunday morning, they go ask for forgiveness. And they do it all again next week!

    • @REASON, you my friend have never heard of “The unpardonable sin” google it and you shall be enlightened. It is repeatedly sinning when you know that what you are doing is sinning but taking a blind eye and hoping to pray and be forgiven. It doesn’t work that way – nice try though!

  6. Can this failed mining engineer please tell the nation which rail line this purported state of the art train is going to use. Certainly not the old delapidated Zambia Railway line which is of an ancient gauge (rail size) to the ones used for modern trains. So bwana minister, stop yapping about and start by laying a new railway track, only then can you start talking about a new train.

    • rail size remains standard unless the very high speed train rail that uses magnetisim to reduce friction,our rail is being rehabilitated at a huge cost,the engine remains fuel propelled but new passenger cars will make the differance.Zambians stop being negative for nothing…

  7. Hold the fire guys! Please hold the fire! We are not at a stage in our existence to make our own trains and therefore I see no reason why not to import something so complex as train coaches and train engines. What we should concentrate on is ensuring that the Euro bond is put to good use as this is what it was intended for. We can’t keep shooting down initiatives just for the sake of scepticism. The UK also imports train coaches and engines from other countries – the so called ICE (Inter City Electric trains) are manufactured in France and Japan. Ours is a responsibility to ensure the train platforms are modernised and kept clean so as to attract tourists to use these facilities and in the long run they will spend money as they buy local wares which will improve livelihoods of many…

    • ….in fact, this should have been headline news rather than the stale news about the constitution. I blame it on LT. They don’t know how to prioritise news and are happy to feed us politically charged headlines that do not give us any challenges in our thinking.

  8. …. I want to be your president in 2020. Please impress me with your views and I will certainly pick you to me in my cabinet. This is not a joke… come Saulosi, Ndobo, Jay-Jay, Mushota, Chinyama, Nubian Princes, Nostradamus, Senior Citizen, Dr Kasonde, mushonyo & Mushoto, Cindy, Dude Love…… etc. I want you all sons and daughters of our beloved country Zambia to impress me and I promise you that we will be forming government in 2020.

  9. Poverty corrupts the mind. PF is the best government so far, developing the country. Well done in less than three years you have done what I have been waiting to see. Please PF borrow and borrow and borrow till I see Zambia closer to South Africa and Egypt. Please borrow and erase Shame from Zambian face of poor and shameful sight for 50 years.

  10. I agree with Prof. Atanga. Zambians will indeed be surprised that you have consistently managed to cheat them. And if this time around you manage to betray your consistent cheating by bringing in the train, Zambians will equally be surprised to see the old 20th century trains you are describing as state of the art.

  11. I have absolutely no faith in this man’s promises. Things in Zambia don’t get better, they only get progressively worse. We have moved from bad UNIP to stinking PF. I remember as a kid in 1980 I spent 16 hours in their train to travel from Lusaka to Kitwe. I made a vow that never in my life will I ever take that risk again and use their trains. 34 years down the road nothing has been achieved except more fake promises of better trains. Like MMD Chief Bootlicker said, it’s not even about modern trains, it’s about the trucks and signal system to ensure people get to their destinations on time and safely, this is a feat beyond Zambia Railways capacity to cope with.

    • @wantanshi where do you live?if you lived in Zambia you will have noticed the great effort atanga is doing to revive the rail truck,dont be over expectant for nothing with the little available resources ZRL is doing a good job.Poor rail humpered train speed causing alot of derailments hence the super effort in this rail rehab sector is welcome.congratulations ZRL

  12. Some of these comments… How do you expect us to build our own train when we don’t even have the capacity to make/assemble motor vehicles? That will come later. Designing of a train system and upgrading the current one cannot happen overnight. Let’s welcome this modern train and hopefully it won’t take you 3 days to travel from one town to another

  13. okay i’m not in Zambia so i don’t have a real picture of whats going on about this train, but fellow Zambians help me answer the follow~~
    1) has there been any electronic boards around the area showing this ‘soon to be’ train?
    2) has there been any construction going on around?
    3) has there been any advertisements from companies around stating the business/financial collaboration with this soon to be train?
    4) has there been any open progress updates about this?
    The above is only 1% work that would even give us hope that there is a train coming, otherwise non of these have been sited, bo atanga, what kind of sorcery are you using to make this train appear from dust?

    • The is something they smoke in cabinet meeting with Ukwa which makes them see things others can not see…. thats all i can say to help you answer your questions

    • They got it right this time don’t condemn just for the sake of it.They are learned and understand what they are doing as an engineer dont choose sides in advance.

  14. how long before they dismantle the train bare.. Zambians are not used to luxury. look at the toilets at manda hill. they already look like public toilets at KMB

    • @ I’m great – Why not charge customers for toilet use and have a toilet lady or man to look after these toilets at no pay and only get paid from what they receive from the toilet users. Does it need rocket science to implement? Is the country just full of unprintables ?

  15. That is a plus from me for PF. Some of us grew up using the train when travelling. It used to be a memorable experience especially in our secondary school days.

  16. “Zambians will be suprised” You are in that position to deliver and not to suprise Zambians for your unplanned purchase of the so called modern train. By the way on which rails will this modern train travel on? Has there been an upgrade of the dilapidated rail network? This so called professor is simply a childish *****. How come the perchase of this train was not publicized? Did it go on tender? How much is it going to cost? There are a lot of things that needed to be done before purchasing. This Atanga ***** must understand that the money being used belongs to Zambians and therefore he cant call this a gift to Zambians. Will people ride on this train free? Gift..my foot. When are Zambians going to work up for GOD’S sqake???

  17. Efficiency of a modern train is not about interior design but how fast a train takes to reach its destination,currently our rail line system doesn’t support this projection of time efficiency.my daily route metro north to new York city takes about 40 minutes a distance of about 50 miles.the stability of a house is a strong foundation.if the foundation is poorly constructed ,the house will fall at anytime.

  18. The people around him do not seem to believe whatever he is saying. Let him give us the technical specification of the train so that we can subject it to critique before it is put on the tracks. This is synonymous with the biblical saying that “You cannot put new wine into old wine skins”. This is the information age and things like this should not be done under the wraps.

  19. Most of these PF leaders are not normal. They behave like they are on methamphetamine (meth). And why are they referring to him as professor? Is he college lecturer too?

  20. Stupidly he even calls it a gift
    We are in debt due to this train
    Just the last two months there has been two rail derailments
    The track itself is not good enough
    Poor or no planning

    • The man is importing everything from rivets to rail sleepers and he proudly calls himself a CEO of a State owned corporation. . Utterly ridiculous fellow! !

  21. Zambians why don’t you appreciate what is good for you any good thoughts you shoot them down if you don’t think proggressively you never get any where. Haven’t you seen how zambia has developed in just a few years

    • My dear Nshilimubemba criticism brings developement. If people do not question and just accept things willy nilly then they are doomed. Most bloggers have expressed an important fact. This new train will it use the air to move on. The rail lines as we know them are dilapidated. Are we going to risk damaging this train by running it on dilapidated tracks? Whether views are negative or positive, full of solutions or without them an individual has a right to express them. Those who have a hope in the forthcoming train hope quietly.

  22. Okay we can accept it modern if you achieve the following. No selling casava in the train and by the train stations, strict controls on the station infrastructure, minimum speed of the train 2000km/hr, time to run from lusaka to chingolav3 hours, confortable seats, i can use my lap top with internet in the train, no bumps on the track. Then u can say modern train. Without any of these dont even boast of a modern train, its ordinary then

  23. I hope we ate being fed another tale! I’ll reserve my comments until I see the train, end of the is not away after all!

  24. How can you call yourself hardworking when all you are doing is flipping pages in brochure and ordering foreign products no innovation or creativity whatsoever even when you have a coachworks in Kabwe.

  25. Im disgusted that a Dr is using his bottom to think. how can you buy new trains for a track whose maximum speed is 30km/hr. a dangerous rusted old track. he should have put a brand new track and run old trains on it to test the track, its less risky. he also needs a new signal state of the art technology and then build or refurbish all train stations. new trains shud be the last thing. zambia will never develop with ceos like him but will forever rot in hell. im peased off

  26. ….real ‘cadre-ism’ rhetoric. With overwhelming internet, international documentaries, Technology magazines…easy access to global news…which latest state of art machinery/equipment has eluded us Zedians to be surprised of when we see one..?..talk of Japanese bullet train, German electro-magnetic, Zedian already know about them.
    Agony is when u are expecting a surprise package only to see a reconditioned train you used to ride-on a few months ago when u were in China.
    Reporters should also learn how to use appropriate ‘prefix’ to some-one’s name to characterise the source of information…the above news deserved the source to addressed as… ‘PF cadre Attanga said..’…when he talks something sensible and professional…you refer to him as..’professor Attaga said..’..eeish

  27. I can’t believe the negativity on the part of anti Sata bloggers both from MMD and UPND. Surely someone wants to bring the state of the art train and the response is shear negativity. This is a country of -ve people. Can’t believe it. You think engineers didn’t do their job to assess whether the train will operate on our rail line or not? Chi engineer (Australia) you purely anti Sata with the heart of the devil himself. Ba MMD chief bootlicker you are so dull. That is why Zambia will always remain in Stone Age due to people like Jay Jay etc. If you don’t want the train why bother Atanga? US WE NEED THE TRAIN. If you don’t want progress go hang yourselves.

  28. I really doubt this story. If by modern he means fast trains like the ones in Japan or Europe where are the rail tracks? Those trains need different tracks from the dilapidated ones we currently have. May be he means modern coaches that will still move at snail’s speed and stand for two hours at a siding waiting for the other train to pass.

  29. “modern” train indeed…does he understand what that means…let tym I checked modern trains were electric…

  30. Njanji is the same one we have had since 1960s and yet some prick i bull shitting us about a morden train. Are these monkeys going t drive the train on the dead rail line which has not been in operation for so many years. We really luck focus and serious in my country. Another tale before the year ends right!

  31. Nice title! Instead of surprising us, why not tell us what you are getting and how you arrived at the choice. Then and only then will we be able to understand what you are talking about.

  32. The level of ignorance among the UPND cadres is appalling. Everything for them is seen in parallax. Instead of appreciating the innovation which the Zambia railways Limited is bringing in its system, they are criticizing.

  33. The moral of the story on Zambia Railways tribulations, at least for the rest of the Zambian Diaspora, is that you must remember the Nigerian story of the innocent virgin bride-to-be that was the last passenger on the canoe crossing a wide river paddled by Baphomet, a demon supposedly worshiped by the Knights Templar naturally the inevitable happened only not for her to consummate the marriage!

  34. Can somebody tell me the Prof Atanga’s vision for Zambia Railways.

    I hope he gets jailed as soon as the new train derails; for rushing to run expensive trains on tracks laid over 100years ago by Cecil Rhodes.

  35. Very modern and obviously fast train on a track known for regular derailments, they sure know how to spend the sovereign bond !!!

  36. ATANGA.
    WE EXPECT YOU TO TELL US THE SPECIFICATIONS OF WHAT YOU HAVE ORDERED. ZAMBIANS ARE NOT DULL. ITS NOT EVEN DEVELOPMENT BECAUSE WE ARE JUST TRYING TO CATCH UP WITH WHAT WE DESERVE.

Comments are closed.

Read more

Local News

Discover more from Lusaka Times-Zambia's Leading Online News Site - LusakaTimes.com

Subscribe now to keep reading and get access to the full archive.

Continue reading