THE transport minister of Rwanda, Mr Jean de Dieu Uwihanganye and his Tanzanian counterpart, Mr Makame Mbarawa, agreed on March 9 to electrify the planned 407km standard-gauge line linking Isaka in Tanzania with the Rwandan capital Kigali.

THE president of Rwanda Mr Paul Kagame and his Tanzanian counterpart Mr John Magufuli signed an agreement in Dar es Salaam on January 14 pledging to press ahead with the construction of a standard-gauge line which will connect landlocked Rwanda with the Indian Ocean.

TANZANIA’s Reli Assets Holding Company (Rahco) has awarded a $US 1.9bn contract to Yapi Merkezi, Turkey, to build another section of the new 160km/h standard-gauge railway that will eventually link Dar es Salaam with Mwanza on Lake Victoria, Rwanda and Burundi.

Poor management and maintenance have prevented the Tazara Railway linking Tanzania with Zambia from ever realising its potential. However, as Paul Ash reports, a new management team appears determined to make the railway work.

TANZANIA’s president Mr John Magufuli officially launched construction on April 12 of the first phase of the country’s 2561km standard-gauge railway project which will eventually link the Indian Ocean port of Dar es Salaam with Mwanza on Lake Victoria and Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika, as well as neighbouring Rwanda and Burundi.

TANZANIA’s government has awarded a contract for the construction of 205km of Tanzania’s proposed standard gauge railway to Yapi Merkez Insaat Ve Sanayi (YMIVS), Turkey, and Mota-Engil, Portugal.