DAR ES SALAAM, Aug. 1 (Xinhua) -- Tanzanian President Samia Suluhu Hassan on Thursday officially launched the commercial operation of the country's electric standard gauge railway (SGR) train service from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania.
Commercial trial operation of the SGR train service between the two destinations started last month.
Hassan was among hundreds of passengers on board the electric SGR commercial train as it left the port city of Dar es Salaam in the morning and arrived in the capital Dodoma after three and a half hours.
Hours later, another electric SGR commercial train ferrying Tanzania's Zanzibar President Hussein Ali Mwinyi left Dar es Salaam for Dodoma, covering 722 km.
Speaking on arrival in Dodoma, Hassan said the enhanced train speed will significantly reduce travel times and facilitate the efficient movement of goods and people throughout Tanzania.
"Travel time using the electric SGR train between the two destinations takes about three and half hours, while it takes more than nine hours of travel by bus between the two destinations," said Hassan.
The head of state said the government had ordered 1,430 cargo wagons, which will enhance freight transportation from the port of Dar es Salaam to upcountry regions and neighboring landlocked countries, including Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).
Makame Mbarawa, the minister for Transport, said the entire SGR project in Tanzania will cover 1,560 km from Dar es Salaam to the Mwanza Region, out of the entire 2,102-km railway that will be connected to Burundi and the DRC.
Hassan said the electric SGR train will also help decongest cargo from the Dar es Salaam port, as it will have the capacity to move 17 million tonnes of cargo annually.
She said the construction of the SGR railway project will be undertaken in tandem with the upgrading of the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority railway, which covers 1,860 km and connects the Dar es Salaam port in Tanzania and New Kapiri Mposhi in Zambia.
She added that the construction of the SGR railway project will be executed simultaneously with improving marine, air, and surface transportation to improve the country's connectivity.
