| Usambara Railway | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Overview | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Locale | German East Africa | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Website | www | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 350.5 km (217.8 mi) + 86.1 km (53.5 mi) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1 Meter | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Minimum radius | 150 m | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Maximum incline | 2.5 % | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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The Usambara Railway (German : Usambarabahn) was the first railway to be built in German East Africa and what is today Tanzania.
A railway company was created in 1891 with the aim of connecting the port of Tanga at the Indian Ocean with Lake Victoria by passing south of the Usambara Mountains. A 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) gauge was chosen. From June 1893 the line advanced inland from Tanga. Due to undercapitalization, the company had to be taken over by the state in 1899. Thereafter the line was run by the Ostafrikanische Eisenbahngesellschaft (East African Railway Cooperation), a company which had been created to build and operate the Tanganyika Central Line (Zentralbahn) from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma. Between Pongwe and Ngommi on the Usambara Railway there was a double hairpin turn. Around 1910, a cable spur (the Seilbahn) was constructed to connect the line with the sawmills at Neu-Hornow.[ citation needed ] One of the civil engineers working on the line was Erwin Böhme. [1]
On 26 September 1911, the track reached Moshi at Mount Kilimanjaro by 351.4 km (218.3 mi). Traffic on the entire line commenced on 4 October 1911; the official inauguration took place on 7 February 1912. In 1914, a train ran daily from Tanga to Buiko and back, and twice a week, the service continued to and from Moshi. The entire trip took 14 hours and 40 minutes.
From the Tengeni station to the town of Sigi, there was a branch-line of 23.3 km (14.5 mi) constructed with a 750 mm (2 ft 5+1⁄2 in) gauge, possessing four switchbacks on its course.
From 4 June 1912 to 12 May 1913, the line was renamed Nordbahn (Northern Railway) for a short period. The extension to Arusha was already planned and capital was provided, but was not built due to the start of World War I.
The British mandate, which took over Tanganyika from the Germans, connected the Usambara Railway between Moshi and Voi with the Uganda Railway in Kenya and extended it 1929 to its current termination point Arusha.
Shortly after the country (it was still then Tanganyika) became independent, the Tanganyika Central Line and the Usambara Railway were connected between Mruazi and Ruvu; the new section was in use in 1964. During the East African Community era, which covered Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika/Tanzania, the Usambara Railway belonged to East African Railways (EAR). This community was dissolved in 1977, and the Usambara Railway became part of the Tanzania Railways Corporation.
Under German rule in 1913, the Usambara Railway operated 18 locomotives, 31 carriages and 199 trucks with 562 employees (of which 35 were Europeans).
After construction of the connection to Voi, traffic between Arusha, Moshi and the coast was directed to the port of Mombasa, and the eastern part of the Usambara Railway was reduced to a local service. Passenger traffic was handled with four DMUs during this time. Passenger trains operated on this line up to the 1990s.
In 2018, the Government of Tanzania invested 5.7 billion Tanzanian shillings to rehabilitate the line. As of July 2019, diesel powered cargo trains are leaving Tanga Railway Station again. [2] Passenger transport between Tanga and Arusha was planned to start in September 2019, but has not been commenced yet.
Transport in Tanzania includes road, rail, air and maritime networks. The road network is 86,472 kilometres (53,731 mi) long, of which 12,786 kilometres (7,945 mi) is classified as trunk road and 21,105 kilometres (13,114 mi) as regional road. The rail network consists of 3,682 kilometres (2,288 mi) of track. Commuter rail service is in Dar es Salaam only. There are 28 airports, with Julius Nyerere International being the largest and the busiest. Ferries connect Mainland Tanzania with the islands of Zanzibar. Several other ferries are active on the countries' rivers and lakes.
Tanga is a historic city and the capital of Tanga Region. The city is the most northernly port city of Tanzania to the west of the Indian Ocean on Tanga Bay. The city has a population of 393,429 in 2022. Tanga is governed by the Tanga City Council. The city is also home to the Port of Tanga. The name Tanga means "sail" in Swahili. The city is also the capital of Tanga District.
The East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) is a defunct company that operated railways and harbours in East Africa from 1948 to 1977. It was formed in 1948 for the new East African High Commission by merging the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railway of the Tanganyika Territory. As well as running railways and harbours in the three territories it ran inland shipping services on Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, Lake Albert, the Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile.
The Central Line, formerly known as the Tanganyika Railway is the most important railway line in Tanzania, apart from TAZARA. It runs west from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika via Dodoma. A branch leads to Mwanza on Lake Victoria.
Lushoto is one of the eleven districts of Tanga Region in Tanzania. It is bordered to the northeast by Kenya, to the east by the Muheza District, to the northwest by the Kilimanjaro Region, west by Korogwe District and to the south by the Bumbuli District. The district's capital and largest town is Lushoto.
Rail transport in Tanzania is conducted by two companies. It has historically used narrow gauge trackage, but planning and construction of new standard gauge lines is underway as of 2017.
Rail transport in Kenya consists of a metre-gauge network and a new standard-gauge railway (SGR). Both railways connect Kenya's main port city of Mombasa to the interior, running through the national capital of Nairobi. The metre-gauge network runs to the Ugandan border, and the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, financed by a Chinese loan, reaches Suswa.
Railway stations in Tanzania include:
Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) is a parastatal public corporation acting under the aegis of the Ministry of Infrastructure Development, that has the responsibility "to manage and operate" the ocean ports and lake ports of the country of Tanzania. The Tanzania Ports Authrorty headquarters are located in Mchafukoge ward of Ilala District in Dar es Salaam Region. It is a member of the Port Management Association of Eastern and Southern Africa.
The Tanzania Railways Corporation(TRC) is a state-owned enterprise that runs one of Tanzania's two main railway networks. the Headquarters are located in Mchafukoge, Ilala District, Dar es Salaaam Region.
The history of rail transport in Tanzania began in the late nineteenth century.
The Southern Province Railway was a 1,000 mm narrow gauge rail network in Tanzania, which was operated only for a few years in the middle of the 20th Century. It ultimately comprised about 275 route kilometers. The central line of the railway network was Mtwara - Nachingwea. The isolated network operated without connection to the national network. Because of the failure of the Tanganyika Groundnut Scheme the rail system was deprived of its economic existence. After the independence of Tanzania, operations were ceased in February 1963 and the line was abandoned.
The Port of Tanga is the second largest port in Tanzania. It is located on Tanga Bay in Central ward of Tanga District of Tanga Region.
The TR GA class, later known as the EAR 53 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt-type articulated steam locomotives. The three members of the class were built in 1930 by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Manchester, England, for the Tanganyika Railway (TR). They entered service in 1931, and, with one exception, were later operated by the TR's successor, the East African Railways (EAR).
The TR DL class, later known as the EAR 23 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-0 steam locomotives derived from the Nigerian Railways Emir class. The six members of the DL/23 class were built by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Gorton, Manchester, England, for the Tanganyika Railway (TR). They entered service on the TR in 1923, and were later operated by the TR's successor, the East African Railways (EAR).
The TR MK class, later known as the EAR 25 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 2-8-2 steam locomotives. The eleven members of the class were built by Vulcan Foundry, in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England, for the Tanganyika Railway (TR). They entered service on the TR in 1925–1926, and were later operated by the TR's successor, the East African Railways (EAR).
The TR RV class, later known as the EAR 21 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge steam locomotives designed and built for the Tanganyika Railway (TR) as a 4-8-2 development of the 2-8-2 TR MK class. The eight members of the RV class were built by Vulcan Foundry, in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England.
The EAR 60 class, also known as the Governor class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt-type articulated steam locomotives built for the East African Railways as a development of the EAR's existing 56 class.
The KUR ED1 class was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 2-6-2T steam locomotives built for the Kenya-Uganda Railway (KUR). The 27 members of the ED1 class entered service on the KUR between 1926 and 1930. They were later operated by the KUR's successor, the East African Railways (EAR), and reclassified as part of the EAR 11 class.
The KUR EC5 class was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-2+2-8-4 Garratt-type articulated steam locomotives built during the latter stages of World War II by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Gorton, Manchester, England, for the War Department of the United Kingdom. The two members of the class entered service on the Kenya-Uganda Railway (KUR) in 1945. They were part of a batch of 20 locomotives, the rest of which were sent to either India or Burma.
