Corridor dossier

North–South Corridor

Durban through the SADC heartland toward Dar — a continental artery of gauge, axle load, and transit fees.

SADC / Tripartite corridor programme

Rail on the North–South Corridor
GatewayDurban (with Dar es Salaam as the northern sea gate)
MembersSouth Africa, Zimbabwe, Zambia, Tanzania, Malawi, Botswana, Mozambique
Modesrail, road
AuthoritySADC / Tripartite corridor programme

On a wall map the North–South Corridor looks like destiny. On the ground it is a lesson in fragmentation: gauge changes, concession boundaries, and road capture when rail fails. Johannesburg, Harare, Lusaka and Mbeya are nodes; the transfer yards between them are the plot.

Read the companion essay on gauge. This dossier’s job is simpler: name the spine, name the authority landscape, and refuse to call incompatible rails a single corridor until wagons can cross.

Tests the House keeps asking

  • Where are the break-of-gauge and axle-load cliffs?
  • Do transit fees and weighbridges erase rail’s advantage?
  • Is ‘regional rail’ usable without a crane between concessions?

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