Tanzania continues to wait for start of SGR operations

It is still unknown when the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) will start operations despite the completion of the key infrastructure on the Dar es Salaam-Morogoro section.

Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) director general, Mr Masanja Kadogosa, said waggons for the trains have arrived at the Dar es Salaam port and would be offloaded from a ship this month.

However, he could not state when exactly the SGR would start operating.

“The waggons will be offloaded in November. So by January 2024, they might be here. I cannot tell exactly when,” he said when replying to a question about when SGR will start operating.

TRC’s communications manager, Ms Jamila Mbarouk, told The Citizen yesterday that the construction of the 300-kilometre Dar es Salaam-Morogoro section has reached 98 percent, while that of the 442-kilometre stretch from Morogoro to Makutupora is currently at 94 percent.

In December last year, TRC proposed a fare of Sh24,794 for children and Sh59,494 for adults to travel between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma on SGR trains.

The rates were vehemently opposed by consumers during a meeting that was convened by the Land Transport Regulatory Authority (Latra) in December last year. By then, Latra Consumer Consultative Council (CCC) acting executive secretary, Leo Ngowi, said TRC should come up with reasonable fares so that SGR does not turn into a “white elephant.”

Mr Kadogosa told The Citizen recently that though setting the fares was a task for Latra, a lot of things have been con-ducted on the infrastructure and equipment acquisition.

“It is Latra that sets fares, but on our side, a number of issues have been finalised. For instance, when you visit a Tan-zanite station, there is a control centre. Some equipment has been installed to enable communication, give signals, and monitor the train while it is moving,” he told The Citizen.

He said the SGR locomotive engine was currently at the Dar es Salaam port, awaiting to be offloaded.

“We expect the ship will be able to offload the engine by the end of October this year. So far, we have already re-ceived some 40 waggons,” he said.