The US and China are competing in Africa with rival rail projects aimed at securing supply chains for critical minerals, reports American Journal of Transportation.

China's state-owned CCECC has won a 30-year concession to manage the Tazara line between Zambia and Tanzania. The US$1.4 billion project will renovate the 1,860-kilometre railway and add locomotives and wagons, boosting freight volumes from 100,000 tonnes to 2.4 million tonnes annually.

Western capital is backing the Lobito Corridor linking Zambia, the DRC and Angola's port of Lobito. Driven by the US-led G7 PGII initiative, the project is seen as strategic in curbing China's dominance in African mining. The DRC's rich cobalt and lithium reserves make the corridor vital, though political volatility poses challenges.

In December 2024, then President Joe Biden announced US$250 million for a feasibility study, calling the project a "game changer." President Trump has since supported the plan. In December 2025, the US International Development Finance Corporation closed a US$553 million loan with Lobito Atlantic Railway, alongside US$200 million from the Development Bank of Southern Africa.

The financing is expected to increase Lobito's transport capacity tenfold to 4.6 million tonnes per year and cut mineral transport costs by 30 per cent. The EU has pledged EUR200 million (US$223 million)for Zambia, including EUR50 million to modernise Zambia Railways.

The DFC said its investment would secure supply chains and prevent monopolisation by China. Supporters highlight the corridor's potential to transform trade across southern Africa, carrying both minerals and agricultural produce. Questions remain over funding and timelines, but the financing model aims to limit risk to African states compared with China's debt-heavy BRI projects.