Tanzania reignites railway bonanza while Kenya, Uganda in joint-funding dilemma

 Tanzania’s new electric multiple-unit (EMU) trains.

Tanzania this week officially launched passenger train services on its new electric Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) connecting the port city of Dar es Salaam with the administrative capital Dodoma in the central region.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who flagged off the train on Thursday before hopping in for a ride to Dodoma, sees it as a launchpad of regional connectedness by rail for ease of movement of people and goods, trade and better economies.

The inauguration came as Uganda formally listed Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi to help build its own SGR stretch from Malaba on the Kenyan border to Kampala.