Samia: SGR train stations to be named after Tanzania’s national leaders

Dar es Salaam. President Samia Suluhu Hassan has ordered that Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) stations across the country be named after Tanzania’s current and past national leaders.

Speaking on Thursday, August 1, 2024, in Dodoma SGR station during the official inauguration of the electric train services, President Hassan said the gesture is meant to honour their contributions in the socio-economic development of Tanzania.

This was after the director general of Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), Masanja Kadogosa, asked the Head of State to allow the Dodoma SGR station to be named in her honour.

The president agreed and added that other stations be named after current and former presidents.

The Dar es Salaam SGR station will be named after the late President John Magufuli. “…because he is the one who started the construction,” she said.

Morogoro station will be named after former President Jakaya Kikwete, and Mwanza will bear the name of Tanzania’s founding President, Julius Nyerere.

“I am told President Mwinyi (second President of Tanzania, Ali Hassan) loved Tabora, so the station will be named after him,” she said.

The Kigoma and Shinyanga stations will be named after the late President Benjamin Mkapa and Abeid Amani Karume, former Vice President and the President of Zanzibar, respectively.

Additionally, she said that as the number of stations increases, they will be named after other leaders as well.

“For example, in the Kigoma region, there will be three additional stations, all of which will be named after leaders,” she said.

The Minister for Transport, Prof Makame Mbarawa, announced that SGR trains will also be named after Tanzanian Heads of State and other popular sites like ‘Samia Express’ and ‘Magufuli Express,’ while other trains will be named after tourist attractions, such as ‘Serengeti Express.’