Tanzania to build 19 high-speed electric cargo and passenger trains

East Africa’s largest country is planning to build high speed electric cargo and passenger trains as it aims to give Kenya a run of its money and become the East African Community logistics hub.

Tanzania has floated a multimillion dollar tender for 19 electric trains to be used on the standard gauge railway (SGR) currently under construction, East African reported on Tuesday.

Construction of the SGR began last April, with the first phase consisting of a 205km electric railway line from the port city of Dar es Salaam to Morogoro in central Tanzania.

The $1.2 billion line, being built by Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi and Portuguese firm Mota-Engil, is expected to be completed by October 2019.

State-run railway firm Reli Assets Holding Company (Rahco) is seeking the supply of the locomotives, 14 of which will be cargo trains.

The deadline for the bids closes end of this month as Tanzania eyes to become the first country in the region to use high-speed electric cargo and passenger trains.

According to the tender notice, Rahco said the government has set aside funds for the purchase of the engines and carriages to operate along the Central Corridor.

Tanzania plans to spend $14.2 billion to build a 2,561km SGR running from Dar es Salaam to Mwanza on the shores of Lake Victoria and Kigoma on the shores of Lake Tanganyika in the next five years.

The country expects to connect its ports along the Indian Ocean to landlocked Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and eastern Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.