MAPUTO, 4 September 2008 (IRIN) - Angelina Sidumo is one of the hundreds of traders that throng the busy train station in the Mozambican capital, Maputo, on most Wednesday afternoons to catch the once-weekly train south to Chicualacuala town in Gaza Province, an 18-hour journey covering nearly 500km.

Like any seasoned traveller, Sidumo knows that the train, run by Portos e Caminhos de Ferro de Mocambique, or Mozambican Ports and Railways, will start at least three hours late as passengers make a dash for last-minute bookings, grab luggage, give hugs and handshakes, take parcels and messages.

"It is a long journey from Maputo city to Gaza," remarked Sidumo, who was sheltering from the intense glare of the sun in the shade of a carport outside the station. "The journey takes almost a full day, but for me it is the cheapest form of transport to Chicualacuala, where I sell biscuits and drinks, and come back with fruits to sell in Maputo."

Every Wednesday morning the station becomes a bustle of colour and sound as passengers carrying red-and-green shopping bags from a well-known supermarket chain, 20-litre containers of cooking oil, rice in white, yellow and blue sacks, and bundles, boxes and suitcases of all shapes and sizes generate a buzz of conversation in Shangaan, Shona, Portuguese and English.

"We pay 106 meticais (about US$4.40), which is affordable, compared to more than 350 meticais (US$14.50) by road, which is more expensive. So, many people, including Zimbabwean traders, prefer using the train because it is cheaper", Sidumo said.

Mozambique is still recovering from the effects of a 16-year civil war that ended in 1992 and, despite double-digit growth in the last 10 years, cheap rail transport is a major relief to many people struggling to put food on the table every day.

Cross-border traders

The rail route between Maputo and Gaza has also become a main source of transport for Zimbabwean cross-border traders. "I use the train at least once a month to come and sell reed mats and baskets from Zimbabwe," Tatenda Gapira, a Zimbabwean trader, told IRIN.

Chicualacuala is located on the Mozambican side of the country's southern border with Zimbabwe, opposite the town of Sango in Zimbabwe.

"I started using the train last year, but I know of some cross-border traders who have been using this route for more than four years," said Gapira. "I think the number of Zimbabweans using this route has increased compared to when I started a year ago."

Zimbabwe has been facing a deepening economic and political crisis for more than 10 years, creating unemployment of above 80 percent among its estimated 12 million people.

The economic and political collapse has pushed more Zimbabweans across the borders of neighbouring Botswana, Zambia, South Africa and Mozambique in search of greener pastures.

It is thought that more than four million Zimbabweans have found shelter in these countries, as well as in other parts of the world such as the United Kingdom.

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