MOROGORO, Tanzania, March 18 (Xinhua) -- Tanzania's electric standard gauge railway (SGR) train trial runs from the port city of Dar es Salaam to Morogoro are going smoothly, Minister of Transport Makame Mbarawa said Monday.
Speaking on arrival in Morogoro aboard the second electric SGR train trial run, Mbarawa said the journey took two hours after running at 110 km per hour, 120 km per hour, and 150 km per hour.
Once commissioned for service in July 2024, the electric SGR will run at an average speed of 160 km per hour, cutting travel time between Dar es Salaam and Morogoro to about two hours, from five hours by train on the old meter-gauge railway, the minister said.
Masanja Kadogosa, director general of the Tanzania Railways Corporation, said the first trial run was conducted in late February with four passenger wagons, and the second trial run was made with 14 passenger wagons.
Mbarawa, the transport minister, said the 300-km Dar es Salaam-Morogoro railway line is the first phase of the SGR project, which is expected to run up to Mwanza on the shores of Lake Victoria and Kigoma on the northeastern shores of Lake Tanganyika in five phases, he added.
