Tanzania Breaks Ground on €2.5bn Standard Gauge Railway Extension to Kigoma

Tanzania has started construction on the sixth and final phase of its Standard Gauge Railway, extending the line roughly 411km from Tabora through Uvinza to Kigoma on the shore of Lake Tanganyika, Railway Gazette International reported on August 5, 2026.

President Samia Suluhu Hassan laid the foundation stone for the Lot 6 section, valued at around €2.5 billion (about $2.9 billion). Including sidings and station tracks, the contract covers roughly 506 track-km. The line is being built by a joint venture of China Railway Construction Corp and China Civil Engineering Construction Corp, under the supervision of Tanzania Railways Corp, with completion targeted for 2030.

Once open, the line is expected to cut journey times between Dar es Salaam and Kigoma from more than 20 hours to around 8 hours, lowering transport costs for mining, agricultural and fishing exports moving through the port of Dar es Salaam. Construction is expected to create about 15,000 jobs across the Tabora and Kigoma regions.

The Kigoma extension completes Tanzania's SGR backbone and positions the country as a rail gateway for landlocked neighbours including Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, which currently rely on road and lake transport to reach the Indian Ocean coast.