The Usambara Railway (german: Usambarabahn) was the first

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport that transfers passengers and goods on wheeled vehicles running on rails, which are incorporated in tracks. In contrast to road transport, where the vehicles run on a p ...

to be built in

German East Africa German East Africa (GEA; german: Deutsch-Ostafrika) was a German colony in the African Great Lakes region, which included present-day Burundi, Rwanda, the Tanzania mainland, and the Kionga Triangle, a small region later incorporated into Mo ...

and what is today

Tanzania Tanzania (; ), officially the United Republic of Tanzania ( sw, Jamhuri ya Muungano wa Tanzania), is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It borders Uganda to the north; Kenya to the northeast; Comoro Islands ...

History

German East-Africa

A railway company was created in 1891 with the aim of connecting the port of Tanga at the

Indian Ocean The Indian Ocean is the third-largest of the world's five oceanic divisions, covering or ~19.8% of the water on Earth's surface. It is bounded by Asia to the north, Africa to the west and Australia to the east. To the south it is bounded by ...

with

Lake Victoria Lake Victoria is one of the African Great Lakes. With a surface area of approximately , Lake Victoria is Africa's largest lake by area, the world's largest tropical lake, and the world's second-largest fresh water lake by surface area after ...

by passing south of the

Usambara Mountains The Usambara Mountains of northeastern Tanzania in tropical East Africa, comprise the easternmost ranges of the Eastern Arc Mountains. The ranges of approximately long and about half that wide, are situated in the Lushoto District of the Tan ...

. A gauge was chosen. From June 1893 the line advanced inland from Tanga. Due to undercapitalization, the company had to be taken over by the state in 1899. Thereafter the line was run by the ''Ostafrikanische Eisenbahngesellschaft'' (East African Railway Cooperation), a company which had been created to build and operate the Tanganyika Central Line (Zentralbahn) from

Dar es Salaam Dar es Salaam (; from ar, دَار السَّلَام, Dâr es-Selâm, lit=Abode of Peace) or commonly known as Dar, is the largest city and financial hub of Tanzania. It is also the capital of Dar es Salaam Region. With a population of over s ...

to Kigoma. Between

Pongwe Pongwe Pogwe is a Tanzanian village belonging to the ward of Kang'ata, Handeni District in the northern Region of Tanga. The local demonym is "Wapongwe" ("Samwepongwe" for men and "Mnamweponge" for women). Geography In Pongwe Pogwe there is a ...

and Ngommi on the Usambara Railway there was a double

hairpin turn A hairpin turn (also hairpin bend or hairpin corner) is a bend in a road with a very acute inner angle, making it necessary for an oncoming vehicle to turn about 180° to continue on the road. It is named for its resemblance to a bent metal ha ...

. Around 1910, a cable spur (the ''Seilbahn'') was constructed to connect the line with the sawmills at

Neu-Hornow Shume is a town in Tanzania in the Usambara Mountains in Lushoto District of Tanga Region . It was formerly known as New Hornow (german: Neu-Hornow) and was the location of a sawmill A sawmill (saw mill, saw-mill) or lumber mill is a faci ...

. One of the

civil engineer A civil engineer is a person who practices civil engineering – the application of planning, designing, constructing, maintaining, and operating infrastructure while protecting the public and environmental health, as well as improving existing ...

s working on the line was Erwin Böhme. Usambara Railway tracks

On 26 September 1911, the track reached Moshi at

Mount Kilimanjaro Mount Kilimanjaro () is a dormant volcano in Tanzania. It has three volcanic cones: Kibo, Mawenzi, and Shira. It is the highest mountain in Africa and the highest free-standing mountain above sea level in the world: above sea level and a ...

by . Traffic on the entire line commenced on 4 October 1911; the official inauguration took place on 7 February 1912. In 1914, a train ran daily from Tanga to Buiko and back, and twice a week, the service continued to and from Moshi. The entire trip took 14 hours and 40 minutes. From the Tengeni station to the town of Sigi, there was a branch-line of constructed with a gauge, possessing four switchbacks on its course. From 4 June 1912 to 12 May 1913, the line was renamed ''Nordbahn'' (Northern Railway) for a short period. The extension to

Arusha Arusha City is a Tanzanian city and the regional capital of the Arusha Region, with a population of 416,442 plus 323,198 in the surrounding Arusha District Council (2012 census). Located below Mount Meru on the eastern edge of the eastern bran ...

was already planned and capital was provided, but was not built due to the start of World War I.

British Mandate

The British mandate, which took over Tanganyika from the Germans, connected the Usambara Railway between Moshi and

Voi Voi is the largest town in Taita-Taveta County in southern Kenya, in the former Coast Province. It lies at the western edge of the Taru Desert, south and west of the Tsavo East National Park. The Sagala Hills are to the south. Economy Voi is a ...

with the Uganda Railway in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi , ...

and extended it 1929 to its current termination point Arusha.

Tanzania

After Tanzanian independence, the Tanzania Central Line and the Usambara Railway were connected between Mruazi and Ruvu. During the

East African Community The East African Community (EAC) is an intergovernmental organisation composed of seven countries in the Great Lakes region of East Africa: the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the United Republic of Tanzania, the Republics of Kenya, Buru ...

era, which covered Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, the Usambara Railway belonged to

East African Railways The East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) is a defunct company that operated railways and harbours in East Africa from 1948 to 1977. It was formed in 1948 for the new East African High Commission by merging the Kenya and Ugand ...

(EAR). This community was dissolved in 1977, and the Usambara Railway became part of the

Tanzania Railways Corporation The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) is a state-owned enterprise that runs one of Tanzania's two main railway networks. When the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation was dissolved in 1977 and its assets divided between Kenya, Tanza ...

, which was taken over in 2007 by an Indian investor.

Service

Under German rule in 1913, the Usambara Railway operated 18

locomotive A locomotive or engine is a rail transport vehicle that provides the motive power for a train. If a locomotive is capable of carrying a payload, it is usually rather referred to as a multiple unit, motor coach, railcar or power car; the ...

s, 31 carriages and 199 trucks with 562 employees (of which 35 were Europeans). After construction of the connection to Voi, traffic between Arusha, Moshi and the coast was directed to the port of Mombasa, and the eastern part of the Usambara Railway was reduced to a local service. Passenger traffic was handled with four DMUs during this time. Passenger trains operated on this line up to the 1990s. In 2018, the Government of Tanzania invested 5.7 billion Tanzanian shillings to rehabilitate the line. As of July 2019, diesel powered cargo trains are leaving Tanga Railway Station again. Passenger transport between Tanga and Arusha was planned to start in September 2019, but has not been commenced yet.

Gallery

Usambara Railway station in.JPG, One of the many small (loading) stations lining up along the railtracks. Railstation in Moshi.jpg, Moshi Railway Station. Tanga Railway Station.jpg, Tanga Railway Station. Platform ticket machine at Tanga Station 20090401.jpg, Platform ticket machine in Tanga. Usambara Railway tracks.jpg, Tracks Locomotive at Tanga Railway Station.jpg, Diesel locomotive at Tanga Railway Station in 2019.

References

Bibliography

*Helmut Schroeter: ''Die Eisenbahnen der ehemaligen deutschen Schutzgebiete Afrikas und ihre Fahrzeuge'' = Die Fahrzeuge der deutschen Eisenbahnen 7. Frankfurt 1961.

External links

A map of the line
following its annexation by Britain and connection to the Kenyan system {{coord, 6, S, 35, E, display=title, type:countryk_region:TZ-source:wikidata Railway lines in Tanzania Economy of German East Africa Metre gauge railways in Tanzania Railway lines opened in 1911 1911 establishments in German East Africa