Chinese telecoms firm Huawei has been appointed the provider of Zambia's first Global System for Mobile Communication - Railway (GSM-R) communication infrastructure for the Chingola-Livingstone railway line.

According to a press statement Huawei will partner with Zambia Railways Limited (ZRL) and rail industry leader Bombardier Transportation to ensure the roll-out of this project.

Huawei will take charge of the design and implementation of GSM-R, a digital radio system for operational train to ground communication, the statement revealed.

The project, which is valued at $51 million seeks to ensure that the adoption of GSM-R signaling and telecommunications technologies further enhance Zambia's railway line safety and data transmission capacity.

Last year the Zambian government set up a $120 million grant to upgrade the signal-tracking capability of the Chingola-Livingstone railway line.

It was further revealed that Bombardier in cooperation with Huawei would implement state-of-the-art signaling and telecommunications technology to further improve safety and capacity of the railway line.

The train signaling technology would be designed and implemented by Bombardier using their proven BOMBARDIER INTERFLO 550 communications-based signaling system with full automatic train protection (ATP), the statement reads.

"For railway lines with underdeveloped fixed networks and rare optical resources, a reliable wireless network solution is crucial for achieving enhanced safety and management efficiency," Fan Wen, managing director of Huawei in Zambia said in the statement.

He added, "Huawei's partnership with ZRL is a testament to Huawei's unwavering commitment to Africa, in providing industry-leading ICT technologies and solutions to help regional and rural communities improve and develop local infrastructure including railway lines."