TANZANIA Railway Corporation (TRC) celebrated the arrival of the first of 10 EMUs ordered from Hyundai Rotem at the port of Dar es Saalam on April 3, a significant milestone in its Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project.
The 160km/h, eight-car EMUs have capacity for 590 passengers and were ordered under a Won 335.4bn ($US 250m) contract placed with Hyundai Rotem in 2021. The deal also includes the supply of 17 electric locomotives, deliveries of which commenced in late 2023.
The EMU order is worth Won 215.7bn, while the locomotive order is worth Won 119.7bn. These are Tanzania’s first electric fleets, and will be used on phases 1 and 2 of the SGR. The trains are equipped with Wi-Fi, air-conditioning and CCTV. They will also offer seating areas for passengers with reduced mobility and are expected to deliver a major improvement in service quality for passengers.
Deliveries at a rate of one train a month will continue until October, TRC says.
The first shipment also included the final three coaches from an order for 59 that was placed with Sung Shin Rolling Stock Technology of Korea. Line testing of the locomotives and coaches at up to 160km/h is now underway.
The 205km Phase 1 of the SGR runs from Dar es Salaam to Morogoro and is reported to be 98.9% complete. The 422km Phase 2 from Morogoro to Makutupora is 96.51% complete.
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