LUSAKA, Jan. 9 (Xinhua) -- Rehabilitation works on the Zambian side of a railway line jointly owned with neighboring Malawi have been completed while works on the Malawian side were still in progress, a spokesperson of a Zambia railway firm said on Wednesday.

Transport operations on the Chipata-Mchinji railway line were temporarily suspended last month due to damage caused by heavy rains on the line both on the Zambian and Malawian sides.

Sombe Ng'onga, acting Public Relations Manager of the Zambia Railways, said restoration works on the Malawian side were still ongoing while train movements between the town of Chipata in eastern Zambia to the Port of Nacala in Mozambique will only start before the end of this month when the works are expected to be completed, according to a statement.

Zambia Railways operates a 24-kilometer stretch of the line from Chipata town and connects to CEAR Railways in Malawi at Mchinji border town and then CDN Railways of Mozambique to the Port of Nacala.

The railway line was first initiated in the early 1970s as a bilateral agreement between Zambia and Malawi while construction works started in 1982 but stalled for years due to lack of funds. Operations of the railway line were launched in 2010.