How Extreme Weather is Testing Tanzania’s $2 Billion Electric Railway Dream

1 hour ago 1

by Kizito Makoye (dar es salaam, tanzania)
Monday, January 19, 2026
Inter Press Service

DAR ES SALAAM, Tanzania, January 19 (IPS) - On a rainy Wednesday morning, in Dodoma, the capital of Tanzania, the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) terminal bustled with a steady flow of passengers. Women ushered toddlers along. Snack bags dangling on their hands. Tourists dragged wheeled suitcases across the floor. Students scrolled through smartphones as they returned to campus. Each had been attracted by the speed, reliability and comfort of the electric train.

Inside the terminal, passengers streamed effortlessly into waiting lounges. Tickets were briskly scanned. Security checks moved swiftly. Above it all, e-departure boards flickered assuredly. Then, by mid-morning, everything changed. A female voice crackled over the loudspeaker, confirming what many travelers had already begun to suspect: Trains bound for Morogoro and Dar es Salaam would be delayed.

The delay, the announcement explained, was caused by heavy rains that had caused a technical fault somewhere along the line. Hours dragged on. No train moved.

“I wasn’t worried when I left home this morning,” said Neema Msuya, a nurse travelling to Dar es Salaam to attend a family funeral. “The train is usually on time.” She sat near the information desk, her suitcase by her feet, scrolling through Instagram to pass time. Hours later, her confidence had drained away “We have been here too long,” she complained. “And no one is telling us clearly what is happening.”

For Msuya, the delay was a big inconvenience. Funerals in Tanzania follow tight cultural timelines, and any delay can result into missing burial rites. Around her, other passengers were also complaining about missed meetings, medical appointments, and even court dates.

The rain-soaked delay offered a human glimpse into a larger problem: how climate change is beginning to test Tanzania’s flagship low-carbon railway—and what those vulnerabilities reveal about the wider problems facing Africa’s development ambitions in a warming world.

At the COP30 climate talks in Belém, Brazil, railways were cast into seemingly contradictory roles: increasingly exposed to climate stress, yet among the most overlooked tools for cutting emissions. Transport accounts for nearly a quarter of global greenhouse gas output, and as negotiators sparred over adaptation finance and the future of fossil fuels, campaigners argued that the goals of the Paris Agreement will remain at bay without a decisive shift away from roads and air toward low-carbon rail.

Speakers from the International Union of Railways pressed that point forcefully. Rail, they said, remains one of the most energy-efficient ways to move people and goods, yet it receives only a tiny slice of global climate finance for transport. They urged governments to slot rail in national climate plans, unlock investments, and fortify infrastructure against extreme weather.

A Boon for Modernity

Tanzania hailed its sleek electric train as a national treasure when it unveiled it in 2024. The USD 2 billion project, built by the Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi, replaced the aging meter-gauge railway and re-anchored the Central Corridor—a vital artery linking the port of Dar es Salaam to hinterlands, onward to landlocked Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo.

With opulent terminals, gliding escalators, digital ticketing and spacious carriages, SGR quickly became a symbol for modernity. Travel times dropped sharply. Road congestion eased as passengers and cargo shifted from diesel-powered trucks to electric rail.

Less than two years later, that optimism has collided with a harsher reality of extreme weather that scientists link to climate change.

Cascading Floods

On December 31, 2025, authorities suspended train services between Dodoma and Morogoro after heavy rains damaged key infrastructure. Floodwaters washed away a riverbank, leaving the railway bridge dangerously exposed.

Machibya Masanja, director general of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), confirmed the hitch but dismissed claims that it was caused by a faulty design.

“This is not a failure of design or construction,” he said, adding that the bridge foundations extend 30 to 40 meters below ground and were designed to last at least 120 years.

Instead, Masanja blamed human activity—farming and settlement in floodplains—for eroding the earth near the line. He said plans were underway to construct dams and other control structures to control water flow and stabilize vulnerable sections.

However, urban planners say frequent disruptions expose deeper flaws in how the multimillion-dollar project was planned and executed, raising questions about its viability.

“The railway isn’t strong enough to cope with flooding,” said Honesty Mshana, an urban planner and infrastructure resilience expert based in Dar es Salaam. “When you invest millions of dollars of public money, you expect a system that can withstand climate stress. Flooding isn’t a new phenomenon in Tanzania. It should have shaped their engineering decisions.”

Mshana said long stretches of the line cut through floodplains and river basins without adequate culverts, raised embankments or reinforced drainage.

“This is not just an engineering failure,” he said. “It is a planning failure. You cannot copy designs from elsewhere and drop them into a very different ecological and climatic setting. Resilient transport systems require local knowledge, climate projections and the willingness to spend more upfront to avoid far greater losses later.”

As climate change accelerates, he warned, the cost of such oversights will only rise—forcing governments to choose between endless repairs and prolonged service disruptions.

Passengers Caught in Between

For passengers, such explanations offer little comfort.

By late morning the Dodoma terminal was still flocked with wide-eyed passengers. Children slept across benches. Business travelers clustered around charging points.

“I had meetings lined up in Dar es Salaam,” said Emmanuel Kweka, a consultant. “This train has been reliable. That’s why I planned everything around it. Now I don’t know whether to keep waiting or catch a bus.”

Still, frustration has not translated into calls for risky operations. “I don’t want them running trains if it’s unsafe,” said Msuya, the nurse delayed in Dodoma. “But they have to prepare better. These rains are not a surprise anymore.”

Climate Exposed

Around the world, railways are considered as pillars of climate action. Electric trains produce fewer emissions than road or air transport, and for countries like Tanzania, investment in rail aligns neatly with commitments under the Paris Agreement.

Yet the experience of the SGR highlights a growing paradox: infrastructure designed to be climate-friendly is itself increasingly exposed to climate shocks.

“Mitigation on its own is no longer sufficient,” said Edmund Mabhuye, a climate adaptation researcher at the university of Dar es Salaam. “You can cut emissions, but if your infrastructure cannot withstand floods, heatwaves or landslides, you are simply building future losses into the system.”

Studies on railway systems worldwide offer a clear warning: extreme rainfall can weaken embankments, scour bridge foundations, flood tracks and break power systems.

Management Under Scrutiny

The breakdown of Tanzania’s SGR has also raised questions about management capacity and transparency.

In October 2025, an electric train derailed at Ruvu Station shortly after leaving Dar es Salaam. No one was killed, but the incident forced a temporary suspension of services.

TRC described the derailment as a minor operational failure, not related to weather conditions. Yet the onset of rainy season has reinforced a growing perception of a struggling system.

“Every new railway has teething problems,” said Mabhuye. “The risk comes when public trust erodes faster than the government’s ability to fix the problem.”

Waiting in Vain

At the SGR terminal in Dodoma, passengers pressed security officers for answers. Departure boards remained frozen on the same delay notice. Announcements, when they came, offered little beyond apologies.

“We’ve been here since morning and nobody tells us what’s happening,” shouted Hamisi Juma, a trader from Morogoro. “You keep telling us to wait—but wait for what? Some of us have children and jobs to get back to.”

For many, it was not the delay itself that irritated them, but the silence around it.

“If the train is cancelled, say it,” said Peter Mwinyi, a university student travelling to Dar es Salaam. “If it’s delayed, explain why. What makes people angry is being kept in the dark. That’s when you feel cheated.”

This feature is published with the support of Open Society Foundations.

IPS UN Bureau Report

Read Entire Article