By Bisola Adeyemo
As part of a World Bank-financed effort to upgrade the east African nation’s cargo transportation, no fewer than 44 Chinese-made new freight wagons was received in Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) on Wednesday.
Masanja Kadogosa, the TRC director general, said the wagons each had a capacity of ferrying 46 tons of cargo.
Xinhua news agency reports that the central railway line running from the Dar es Salaam port to western and northern Tanzania is a lifeline for landlocked countries of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
According to Makame Mbarawa, the Minister for Works and Transport, said the World Bank’s soft loan is financing the Tanzania Intermodal and Rail Development Project (TIRP) aimed at revamping the central railway line.
He noted that the project entails rehabilitating the central railway line as well as buying locomotives, wagons, and tamping machines, adding that the newly acquired wagons will boost freight services and reduce loading and offloading time from Dar es Salaam port to Isaka dry port to 24 hours.