Tanganyika Railway
The history of rail transport in Tanzania began in the late nineteenth century.
From about 1880 to 1888, a tramway operated in Zanzibar, then ruled by the second Sultan of Zanzibar, Barghash bin Said.
In 1905, a second tramway was built, this time by a US company. It lasted until 1930.
The first railway lines in Tanganyika, known at the time as German East Africa, were built soon after the first tramway in Zanzibar.
In 1891, the Eisenbahngesellschaft für Deutsch-Ostafrika (English: Railway Company for German East Africa) was established, with the goal of building a railway from Tanga in Tanganyika to the hinterland. For that, and subsequent, main lines in the German colony, the gauge selected was 1,000 mm (3 ft 3 3⁄8 in) metre gauge. In addition, light railways were developed for individual Tanganyikan sisal plantations in narrower gauges, usually 600 mm (1 ft 11 5⁄8 in) gauge.
The construction of the Usambara Railway, from Tanga to the hinterland, began in 1893. However, the company building that railway went into bankruptcy after two years. At that stage, only 40 km (25 mi) of track had been completed, as far as Korogwe. The treasury of the colony then took over the project in 1899. Four years later, in 1903, it issued an Order for further construction. Subsequently, there were other attempts to operate the railway on an economically and juristically stable footing.
In 1904, the smaller railways received a boost. Meanwhile, in Germany, the Sigi-Eisenbahngesellschaft (English: Sigi Railway Company) was established, with the objective of constructing one of the narrow gauge railways branching off the Usambara Railway, the Sigi-Bahn, in 750 mm (2 ft 5 1⁄2 in) gauge. The same year, 1904, the Ostafrikanische Eisenbahngesellschaft (English: East African Railway Company) (OAEG) was formed to promote a railway from Dar es Salaam in the direction of Lake Tanganyika, the Zentralbahn (English: Central Line). Kigoma was reached on 2 February 1914, on the eve of World War I. Later in 1914, work began on the Ruandabahn, a line from Tabora in the territory that was later to become Rwanda. This project was thwarted by the outbreak of World War I.
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