Dabuka: The rail nerve centre

THE year 1975 saw the birth of Dabuka Depot which is the second largest marshalling yard in Southern Africa. Dabuka is located 15 km outside of Gweru central business district along the Gweru – Bulawayo railway line.

One of its purposes is to control traffic coming from outside Zimbabwe.

Dabuka also regulates and helps keep track of train movement in the Midlands province.

Apart from being a control station, Dabuka also acts as a container relay depot as all containers coming into the country pass through Dabuka from where they are transported to their respective customers.

In the early 2000s, Dabuka used to receive 18 to 20 trains a day but the number has fallen to between eight and 10.