This thread is meant to cover all the railways of Tanzania, starting with the old metre-gauge lines.

[Quote]Over recent years, I have reported events relating to the railways of Kenya and Uganda but have singularly failed to do so in relation to the railway network in Tanzania. This has probably been because of an abiding interest in the railways associated with what is now referred to as the Northern Corridor (when referring to the Standard Gauge Railway network).

It is time to rectify this situation. … [/Quote]

First, a look at the history of the various lines in Tanzania.

The linked article focusses on the history of the Usambara Railway (Usambarabahn) in the north of Tanzania.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/03/16/railways-of-tanzania/

Part 2 - The Route of the Usambarabahn

The Route of the Usambara Railway – Tanga to Moshi

In 2018, the Government of Tanzania invested 5.7 billion Tanzanian shillings to rehabilitate the line. As of July 2019, diesel powered cargo trains were leaving Tanga Railway Station again. Passenger transport between Tanga and Arusha was planned to start in September 2019, but has not been commenced as yet. [6]

The line has its terminus in the Port of Tanga. It leaves the Port of Tanga (Hafen von Tanga) to run towards Tanga station and from there on to Moshi.

Roger Farnworth

Railways of Tanzania – Part 2 – The Route of the Usambara...

NB: Given the way in which some of the images in this article have been displayed, this article is best read/viewed on a laptop or desktop computer rather than a mobile phone. If you need to read i…

Railways of Tanzania – Part 4 – Moshi to Arusha

The featured image in the linked post is a photograph of East African Railways (EAR) 29 class steam locomotive no. 2904 at Moshi depot, Tanzania, © Basil Roberts and licenced for reuse under a Creative Commons licence (CC BY-SA 4.0).

The Moshi-Arusha railway line is a 86 km extension of the Usambara Railway (Usambarabahn) in northern Tanzania, It was initially built between 1911 and 1929 and rehabilitated in 2018–2019, the metre-gauge line connects the Northern zone to the port of Tanga, and mainly serves as a freight corridor for agriculture and industrial goods.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/04/15/railways-of-tanzania-part-4-moshi-to-arusha/

Modifié Mercredi à 19:152 j par rogerfarnworth

Part 3 - The Railway Line from Voi to Kahe

The majority of this line was in Kenya, built to support the war effort in the First World War.

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2026/04/09/railways-of-tanzania-part-3-voi-kenya-to-kahe-and-moshi-tanzania

A number of different articles are under preparation, this is the next completed article:

Part 9 – Narrow-Gauge Industrial Lines

The featured image for this article shows a train on the Kihuhui Bridge on the Sigi Railway in Tanganyika.

Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) possessed a dense network of industrial narrow-gauge railways, primarily developed during the German colonial era (German East Africa) in the late 19th and early 20th centuries to support plantation agriculture and forestry. While the main lines (Central Line and Usambara Railway) were built to 1,000 mm (metre) gauge, industrial, plantation, and forestry lines often used 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) or 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge.

Following World War I, the British administration deemed many of the 600 mm “light railways” to be economically inefficient compared to the, at the time, more efficient 1,000 mm metre-gauge lines, leading to a shift away from developing these smaller lines.

Early Industrial Narrow Gauge lines included: the Sigi Railway; and the Sisal Plantation Railways. Later industrial lines included: the Southern Province Railway, the Port of Bujumbura Railway, and Narrow Gauge Railways near Moshi.

Roger Farnworth

Railways of Tanzania – Part 9 – Narrow-Gauge Industrial L...

The featured image for this article shows a train on the Kihuhui Bridge on the Sigi Railway in Tanganyika. [3] Tanganyika (now part of Tanzania) possessed a dense network of industrial narrow-gauge…