The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) has officially launched container transportation services using the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), marking a significant step toward expanding its commercial operations, reducing port congestion, and improving cargo transportation to central regions of the country.
Speaking during the inaugural container train departure from Pugu to Ihumwa in Dodoma Region, the Acting Director of Transport Services at TRC, Focus Makoye Sahani, stated that the train covers approximately 420 kilometres from Dar es Salaam.
He explained that this milestone follows TRC’s earlier launch of passenger services and transportation of various goods, including rice, since July, as well as cement loaded at Pugu.
“Today, we have expanded our business scope by introducing containerised cargo services. As you can see, our first container train to Ihumwa, Dodoma, has officially commenced operations, and we have received a strong commitment from our first client,” said Sahani.
The inaugural train consists of 50 wagons carrying a total of 100 containers. The first client, GSM, has provided the initial cargo for this new service.
According to Sahani, container loading operations have commenced at Pugu, while infrastructure improvements are ongoing at Malindi Yard near the Gerezani area to further strengthen container handling capacity.
He noted that this initiative will help ease congestion at the port while implementing the Director General’s directive to establish Inland Container Depots (ICDs) in Morogoro and Ihumwa.
“We will have an ICD in Morogoro, located 193 kilometres from Dar es Salaam, where customers transporting goods to Mbeya and Iringa will be able to collect their cargo. Additionally, there is the Ihumwa ICD,” he said.
He further explained that the journey to Morogoro takes a short time, while cargo destined for Dodoma is offloaded at the Ihumwa ICD, which has sufficient space and infrastructure to handle container operations efficiently.
Sahani called upon traders and business operators to utilise railway transport in order to reduce reliance on trucks operating between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma, emphasising that the Standard Gauge Railway offers a cost-effective, safe, and efficient mode of transport.
This marks the first time TRC has deployed container carrier wagons since launching SGR freight services on June 27, 2025
TRC received a total of 264 SGR freight wagons in December 2024, of which 200 are container carrier wagons, and 64 are designated for loose cargo transportation.
