LUSAKA, September (Reuters) – China, Zambia, and Tanzania on Monday signed a $1.4 billion agreement to upgrade the Tanzania-Zambia railway, a key route for transporting copper exports from the region, according to Zambia’s government.

The deal will fund the rehabilitation of the railway and the acquisition of new locomotives, passenger coaches, and wagons.

Last year, China had signed an initial agreement to restore the 50-year-old TAZARA railway, as it is commonly known, at a time when the United States was supporting a competing mineral transport corridor through Angola’s Lobito port.

The TAZARA line provides a route that helps bypass logistical bottlenecks in South Africa, which have previously slowed the export of copper and cobalt.