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Tanzania has officially started electric train services between Dar es Salaam and Dodoma.

“We have waited for this service for a long time but finally we are starting. For us, this is a milestone,” Tanzanian Railways Corporation head Masanja Kadogosa told reporters.

“Both business and regular classes are full and, in fact, many people missed tickets,” he added. The frequency will be bumped up depending on demand, the state-owned agency said.

Built by a Turkish company, the 440-kilometre (273-mile) line is part of a 2,561-kilometre Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) network. It will connect the north and west of the country to Dar es Salaam, on the coast.

“It is my hope that the electric train will cut the number of buses playing the same route,” said Donald Mmari, executive director of the Tanzanian poverty alleviation research think-tank, REPOA. The trains are expected to shorten the travel time from four hours by bus to one hour and forty minutes. There will be four daily SGR trips on the route.

Analysts said the rail system should provide a safe and reliable option to Tanzania’s rising population while cutting carbon emissions and curbing noise and air pollution.

Abel Kinyondo, a lecturer at the University of Dar es Salaam, described the railway as “the green way to conserve the environment by cutting vehicle-led pollution”.

The project in one of Africa’s fastest-growing economies is the cornerstone of a transformation plan by President Samia Suluhu Hassan ahead of national elections next year.

More than 900 passengers were on board for Thursday’s inaugural trip.

 

Story compiled with assistance from wire reports