Tanzania to deploy double-decker coaches in SGR network

Dar es Salaam. The Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) is now planning to deploy double-decker wagons on the standard gauge railway (SGR) network towards the end of the year as the government beefs up the operations of the modern railway.

A total of 30 double-decker wagons from discarded Deutsche Bahn AG stock and two locomotives are reportedly being shipped from Germany island of Rügen to Tanzania.

TRC acting director general Lameck Magandi told The Citizen that the wagons are expected to arrive in October this year.

He said six double-decker coaches were already received in Tanzania.

“Another seven wagons are expected to arrive next month, with a further batch of 17 wagons still in assembly and anticipated to reach the country early next year,” he said by phone.

Mr Magandi explained that while the wagons have not yet been assigned to specific routes, they will be allocated based on operational needs.

Currently, the SGR operates between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma through Morogoro but upon completion, it will extend to Kigoma and Mwanza, among other cities in the central corridor.

Mr Magandi also noted that the initial batch of six wagons had to be disassembled due to their large dimensions, which made transport in one piece impractical.

“These wagons are now being reassembled, and if all proceeds as planned, they should be operational by November,” he said.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan officially inaugurated the Dar es Salaam-Dodoma SGR services on August 1, 2024.

On June 14 this year, TRC launched the first electric commuter train plying between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro, marking a significant milestone in the country’s transport infrastructure. The inaugural journey covered a distance of 300km.

Deputy Minister for Transport David Kihenzile reported that 1,400 passengers travelled on the maiden electric train from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro free of charge.

The Dar es Salaam-Dodoma line is part of a 2,561-kilometre SGR network expected to connect the north and west of the country to Dar es Salaam, an Indian Ocean port city.

Tanzania’s railway system has two existing networks, one linking the East African nation to Zambia and the other to Kenya and Uganda.

In December 2022, Tanzania signed a $2.2-billion contract with a Chinese company to build the final section of the SGR line aimed at linking the country’s main port with its neighbours.

The project, due to be completed in 2026, nine years after it began, will eventually have spurs to Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Uganda.

TRC said the daily trips between Dodoma and Dar es Salaam, have attracted “overwhelming” response to the commuter train, cutting the usual lengthy bus trip by more than half to around three-and-a-half hours.