Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway: A Corridor in the Making
Tanzania's $14 billion standard gauge railway project, when completed, will create a new trade corridor linking Dar es Salaam to the landlocked nations of Burundi, Rwanda, and the DRC. Progress is accelerating.
The Central Corridor, connecting Dar es Salaam's deep-water port to the landlocked nations of Burundi, Rwanda, and the DRC's eastern provinces, carries an estimated 12 million tonnes of cargo annually. It is East Africa's second-most important trade corridor after the Northern, and it has historically been hampered by aging infrastructure, slow rail services, and chronic road congestion.
Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway project is designed to transform this equation. At a projected total cost of $14 billion, one of sub-Saharan Africa's largest infrastructure investments, it will replace the century-old metre-gauge railway with modern standard gauge track capable of carrying both passengers and freight at significantly higher speeds and volumes.
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Progress Report
The Dar es Salaam to Dodoma section (Section 1), spanning 422 kilometres, is complete and operational. Passenger trains have been running since mid-2023, cutting journey time from 10 hours to under 4 hours. Freight wagons began operating on the section in early 2024, with capacity of up to 3 million tonnes annually.
Section 2, Dodoma to Mwanza, is under construction, with completion expected in 2026. Sections 3 and 4, extending to the Rwandan and Burundian borders, are in advanced procurement phases. The full corridor to Keza (for the Burundian connection) and Isaka (the main inland container depot for Rwanda and eastern DRC) is targeted for completion by 2030.
The Landlocked Markets Waiting
Rwanda currently routes approximately 70% of its ocean cargo through Mombasa and the Northern Corridor. A competitive, high-capacity central corridor, with Dar es Salaam's superior deep-water berthing replacing the shallower Mombasa berths, could shift significant volumes southward, with major cost implications for Rwandan importers and exporters.
The DRC's Katanga mining region, which exports copper and cobalt worth billions annually, currently routes much of its production through Zambia and South Africa. A direct rail connection to Dar es Salaam would offer an alternative that could cut transit costs and time significantly.
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