by Ben Taylor
SGR rail route launched
The Tanzania Railway Corporation (TRC) in June officially launched the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) operations from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro. The first day passengers enjoyed a free ride after President Samia Suluhu Hassan decided to provide free tickets to over 1400 travellers.
The first train started its journey from Dar es Salaam at 6.10 am and arrived at Morogoro main station at 7.56am. It had covered 300km in under two hours.
“This is a milestone in the history of transportation sector in the country,” said David Kihenzile, Deputy Minister for Transport.
A few weeks later, passenger trains began operating beyond Morogoro, as far as Dodoma. SGR electric train services from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma substantially reduce travel time, with the express train completing the journey in approximately three hours and 25 minutes. This is around half the time of a bus journey.
Alternatively, it is around three times the time of a flight that would cost more than ten times the price. The Land Transport Regulatory Authority (LATRA) announced rail fares for Dar-Dodoma of TSh 31,000 for adults, with children aged 12 and below paying half the cost. Air Tanzania’s price for one way trip to Dodoma is around USD $150 in economy class, while the fare on Precision Air is around TSh 250,000.
St Augustine University of Tanzania (SAUT) Economist, Dr Isaac Safari told Daily News that it is not easy for airline passengers to switch to trains, as many of them feel that flying is more prestigious.
“However, the route is too good for those who travel by buses as they may be more likely to switch to trains, as it offers greater safety,” he said.
Indeed, the impact on bus routes was felt immediately. Two weeks after the launch, a reported 4,000 passengers per day were using the train between Morogoro and Dar, equivalent to over 70 fully-laden buses. One company that previously made 20 bus trips a day from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro reduced its trips to nine or ten per day. Some drivers have been staying at home without much work to do, and bus owners were thus compelled to provide them with money to live on.
Faced with rapidly dwindling profits on the Dar es Salaam- Morogoro-Dodoma route, bus operators quickly devised a plan to maintain their business viability. A representative for Shabiby Bus Company, Mr Edward Magawa, said they were currently working on a way to their business by looking at other destinations instead of relying heavily on the Dar es Salaam-Dodoma route. He asked the government to establish bus stations near SGR stations so that it could be easy for passengers to connect or access buses and continue with their journeys.
Air France to replace Dar with Kilimanjaro
Air France has rescheduled its flight to Tanzania beginning mid-November by replacing the Dar es Salaam stop with Kilimanjaro.
The new route will now be Paris-Zanzibar-Kilimanjaro, flying three times a week with returns on alternate days instead of Paris-Zanzibar-Dar es Salaam.
Air France-KLM’s Tanzania Country Manager Rajat Kumar said the Paris-Kilimanjaro route is a strategic decision aimed at meeting the growing demand for travel to East Africa.
“The new route replaces the Paris-Zanzibar-Dar es Salaam route, but travellers to Dar will have access to the city via Air France’s partner airline KLM, which operates seven weekly flights to the region,” the firm’s statement said.
The decision means that Turkish Airlines and KLM will be the only remaining European airlines that fly direct to Dar es Salaam.