The Government of Tanzania has announced that the first trials for it’s first, speedy electric train will be conducted in July to cover a section of the Standard Gauge Railway.
The Minister for Works, Transport and Communications confirmed that the 300 km phase running from Dar-es-Salaam to Morogoro would start full operations in December with three passenger trains.
The railway will have six stations in Dar es Salaam, Pugu, Soga, Ruvu, Ngerengere and Morogoro with three passenger trains in phase one that will be taking daily round trips of at least 9-12 per train between the two cities.
The electric trains will use concrete sleepers to provide the railway network ability to carry up to 35 tonnes per axle loads. The rails and the train bridge can survive 40 years and 100 years respectively before any significant repairs can be made.
The US $1.9bn project is expected to boost employment in Tanzania, so far it has created 26,000 jobs.
The construction of the project began in May last year and is being undertaken by Turkish company Yapi Merkezi, in partnership with a Portuguese firm, Mota-Engil Africa.
