Tanzania's latest transportation project, the Standard Gauge Railway, has been described by some analysts as a game changer in Africa. It stretches across breathtaking landscapes between Tanzania, Burundi, Rwanda, Uganda, Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia.
The electrified train line cuts the travel time between the port of Dar es Salaam and Morogoro to about two hours. The journey used to be five hours on the old meter gauage railway, and four hours by road.
"It's the longest line from the eastern part of the country, Dar es Salaam. It connects right up to the base of the Lake Victoria so it connects the largest city, the economic hub of the country to the second biggest city of the country," William Kallaghe, an economist, told DW.
The new railway is the biggest infrastructure project ever undertaken in Tanzania. It was built by the firm Yapi Merkezi of Turkey at a cost of $3.1 billion (€2.9 billion).
According to Kallaghe, the project initially drew broad........