Africa Surveyors January-February issue 2023 digital

ENGINEERING
Chinese JV awarded final section of
$2.2B Tanzania Rail Project
By Shem Oirere
A
Chinese joint venture has won a
second contract in under three years
to construct the sixth phase and final
portion of a 2,561-km standard gauge railway
(SGR) line in East Africa over the next four
years.
China Civil Engineering Construction
Corporation and China Railway Construction
Corporation will build the 506 km line
connecting the towns of Tabora and Kigoma.
The $2.2 billion project is comprised of 411
km of main line, 95 km of branch lines, 10
railway stations and two large freight yards.
Denmark-based engineer COWI A/S was
previously picked as preferred designer of the
Tabora-Kigoma phase of the SGR line project.
As in the previous five phases, the Tabora-
Kigoma phase is being constructed alongside
Tanzania’s existing 2,725.5-km meter-gauge
railway track, reducing the need to establish
right-of-way.
Contracts for five earlier phases of the SGR
line have been awarded to Turkish and
Portuguese contractors. The Tanzanian SGR
line will link landlocked countries of Rwanda,
Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo
(DRC) to the Indian Ocean port city of Dar es
Salaam. The SGR line, once fully operational,
would reduce cargo transportation costs
between Dar es Salaam and the landlocked
countries from $6,000 per metric ton to
$4,000 per metric ton. Transportation time is
also expected to drop drastically from 30 days
to 30 hours by 2027.
In January 2021 China Civil Engineering
Photo Courtesy
The agreement for construction of the latest segment of the railway was signed in late
December between representatives of the Tanzanian government and China Civil Engineering
Construction Corp. Tanzania's President Samia Suluhu Hassan witnessed the signing (seated,
center). Photo Courtesy CCECC
Construction Corporation and China Railway
Construction Corporation signed another
contract for the construction of the fifth phase
of the SGR line, approximately 249-km long,
connecting the town of Isaka to Mwanza, the
second-largest city in Tanzania. The contract
award coincided with Tanzania’s securing a
$1.32 billion loan to finance this phase of the
SGR line.
The SGR line is designed with a lifespan of
100 years, and can handle axle loads of 35
metric tons and a design speed of 160 KPH
(99 MPH) for passenger trains and 120 KPH
(74 MPH) for freight trains. Initially, 24 trains,
with maximum length of 2 km, will travel the
2,561-km electrified SGR line.
The SGR will use UIC 60-type rail on prestressed,
mono-block concrete. According to
the Tanzania Railway Corporation, the SGR
line’s “horizontal curves will be designed to
account for the relatively higher speed of the
new train.”
The SGR line is being laid with 2.6-m-long
sleepers that are spaced 600-mm apart.
The is also utilizing 2.5 cu meters of ballast
for every meter laid. The ballast’s thickness
and shoulder width has been designed
at maximum of 300 mm and 400 mm
respectively.
The rails will be fastened using the elastic rail
fastening-anti vandal system while the track
will have continuously welded joined using
the flush-butt method.
“This Tabora-Kigoma railway will open up
Tanzania and connect it with Democratic
Republic of Congo where there is a lot of
cargo that needs to be transported through
our [Dar es Salaam] port,” said Tanzania’s
President Samia Suluhu Hassan during the
signing of the contract in December 2022.
Tanzania is expected to finance the project
through equity and commercial loans. With
the contract award for the Tabora-Kigoma
section, the total investment in the entire
SGR line project in Tanzania has now risen to
$10.4 billion.
“I know our critics blame us for taking up
these loans, but they must understand that
a better infrastructure is key to driving
growth in our country and making Tanzania
competitive at the regional level,” said
President Samia Suluhu Hassan in December
2022.
12 January-February issue l 2023 www.africasurveyorsonline.com