Power outage disrupts Tanzania SGR train services

Dar es Salaam. Commuter train services in the standard gauge railway (SGR) were temporarily disrupted on Wednesday as most Tanzanian regions experienced blackouts caused by a fault in the national grid.

The fault which cause has not yet been identified, affected power supply in all regions which are connected to the national grid, Tanzania Electric Supply Company Limited (Tanesco) said in a statement.

The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) said that electric train services operating between Dar es Salaam, Morogoro, and Dodoma were disrupted for almost one and a half hours before resuming.

The power outage which occurred at around 10:03 in the morning, affected three trains, it said, adding that passengers affected by the power outage include those who started their journey at 8:00 am from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, passengers on the 9:30 am train from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma, and those travelling on the 9:50 am train from Morogoro to Dar es Salaam.

“Thanks to the efforts made, power was restored at 11:30 am, and train services resumed as normal. The corporation apologises to passengers for the inconvenience caused,” TRC said.

“The corporation thanks passengers for their patience during this challenging time,” it added.

The state-run power utility firm said in a statement released by the directorate of communication and customer services in Dodoma, that its experts were already on the site for investigations to determine the cause of the fault.

“Power is now being restored in phases to the affected regions, and efforts are ongoing to ensure all areas receive electricity as soon as possible,” the statement noted.

Tanesco also extended its apologies for the inconvenience caused and assured the public of continued updates as restoration efforts progress.