Tanzania railway: Dar es Salaam to Dodoma link is East Africa’s first electric train

Funding has come from the Tanzanian government and lenders, including from Denmark and Sweden, the Chinese Exim bank and the African Development Bank.

But Mr Masanja says it is too soon to be worried about profitability, saying this will only be realisable once the entire network is complete. He adds that the service is generating enough passenger income to offset operation costs, and that from January the company plans to introduce freight trains.

For now, he says, “its social contribution is much more profitable”.

The service has occasionally been disrupted by power failure but Mr Masanja says they are building a dedicated power transmission line, tapping into the country’s vast power generation capacity to eliminate the risk of unstable power.

Using electricity has reduced the cost of operations to about a third of what would have been spent on diesel, which neighbouring Kenya uses to power its own SGR line, he tells the BBC.

“We are the cheapest in the region, and in Africa, in terms of the cost,” he says.

Not everyone is entirely happy, though.

Adam Ally Mwanshinga, chairman of the Dodoma Bus Terminal Agents’ Union, says his members have lost a significant part of their business because of the railway.

The modern bus station in the capital was not so long ago a bustling terminal, he says, adding there are now 4-500 fewer passengers each day.

While it is cheaper to travel by bus, the convenience of the train has been more attractive for many.

“Business is down and life is difficult,” Mr Mwanshinga says.

“The buses can’t fill up and the many businesses here that used to benefit from the many people coming here are suffering,” he says.

However he seems resigned to the situation, saying that the SGR development “has done well for the majority of the people”.

“It is the nature of life – there are those who benefit and those who will suffer.”