Tanzania receives 264 Chinese-made cargo wagons for SGR electric trains

DAR ES SALAAM, Dec. 25 (Xinhua) -- The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) said Wednesday that it had received 264 cargo wagons made by China's CRRC Qiqihar Rolling Stock Co., Ltd for the standard gauge railway (SGR) electric trains.

According to a statement by TRC, the 264 cargo wagons, as part of 1,430 wagons manufactured by the CRRC for the TRC, arrived in the port of Dar es Salaam Tuesday.

TRC said 200 of the delivered wagons will be for ferrying containers, with 64 for loose cargo. After offloading the cargo wagons, the corporation will undergo trial runs, first without cargo and later on with cargo, between Dar es Salaam, Morogoro and Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania.

Commercial operations for the cargo wagons will start after TRC and experts from the contractors have certified the wagons for use, it added, without detailing when the trial runs will begin.

On Aug. 1, Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan officially launched passenger commercial operations of the country's SGR electric train service from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma via Morogoro.

TRC Director General Masanja Kadogosa said the entire SGR project will cover 1,596 km from Dar es Salaam to the Mwanza region, and upon completion, the modern rail link will cut travel time significantly and boost economic development in Tanzania and across the region. ■