Tanzania buys Chinese freight wagons as standard gauge railway gets off to flying start

Tanzania is to obtain 264 freight wagons to enhance cargo flows on its booming commonplace gauge railway (SGR).

State-owned Tanzania Railway Company (TRC) stated it had purchased the rolling inventory from Chinese language train-maker CRRC Worldwide as a part of a $130m order for 1,430 wagons.

A TRC spokesperson instructed the Tanzanian Every day Information that the wagons had left port in China, and would arrive in the course of subsequent month. He stated they’d be “a significant increase to Tanzania’s logistics sector”.

The cargo consists of 200 container wagons and 64 others designed to accommodate free cargo.

Tanzania’s $10bn SGR is an electrified medium-speed line that can finally join the business capital of Dar es Salaam with the densely populated Nice Lake states of Burundi, Rwanda and Uganda.

A 726km part of the road, working from Dar to the executive capital of Dodoma, was constructed by a three way partnership between Yapi Merkezi of Turkey and Mota-Engil of Portugal. Building broke floor in April 2017, and passenger companies started in June.

The road has reduce the time taken to journey between Dar and Dodoma from 10 hours to three.5. In keeping with Kitila Mkumbo, a minister of state, the passenger aspect of the SGR has transported 645,421 passengers between June and September.

In addition to the SGR wagons, TRC has purchased 400 extra for carrying basic cargo comparable to sugar, cement, salt, cotton, tobacco and low, and 600 for delivery containers.

There are additionally different wagons for petroleum tanks, pipes, wooden, metallic and cattle.

TRC is engaged on modernising greater than 2,500km of its community.

• Subscribe right here to get tales about development around the globe in your inbox 3 times every week.