DAR ES SALAAM, April 23 (Xinhua) — Tanzanian Prime Minister Kassim Majaliwa on Sunday flagged off the third electric standard gauge railway (SGR) train trial runs from the port city of Dar es Salaam to the capital Dodoma covering 541 kilometers.
The first and second trial runs were carried out in February and March from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro covering 300 kilometers.
Majaliwa flagged off the eight-wagon train with over 300 passengers, including religious leaders, retired government leaders, and journalists, at 2:57 p.m. local time.
It was expected to arrive in Dodoma after four hours. Masanja Kadogosa, the director general of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), said the entire SGR project will cover 1,596 kilometers from Dar es Salaam to the Mwanza region covering five lots.
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.
Mbarawa 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 north-eastern shores of Lake Tanganyika in five phases.
