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Tanzania this week officially launched passenger train services on its new electric Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) connecting the port city of Dar es Salaam with the administrative capital Dodoma in the central region.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan, who flagged off the train on Thursday before hopping in for a ride to Dodoma, sees it as a launchpad of regional connectedness by rail for ease of movement of people and goods, trade and better economies.

The inauguration came as Uganda formally listed Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi to help build its own SGR stretch from Malaba on the Kenyan border to Kampala.

At the same time, Kenya said it was bringing under its direct management SGR operations between Mombasa and Naivasha from the Chinese from next year, even as it looks to Beijing to help fund the line to Malaba.

Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has assumed 90 percent of the operations of the SGR line from the Chinese firm Africa Star Railway Operation Company (Afristar) ahead of a full takeover in June 2025, as part of a plan to reduce soaring operational costs that have become a matter of public concern.

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