- Loading of railway wagons for Tanzania
A total of 30 double-decker carriages from decommissioned stocks of Deutsche Bahn AG and two locomotives are being shipped from the port in Mukran on Rügen to Tanzania. The East African country is currently building a new 1,200-kilometer-long railway network.
Heavy cargo ship carries six carriages
Employees of the company Baltic Port Services (BPS) are preparing the carriages and locomotives for operation in Tanzania in Mukran. After an initial delivery of six carriages last year, the heavy cargo ship "BBC Amber" is now transporting six more carriages to the East African country.
The next transport is expected to include the first locomotive to be transported to the Tanzanian city of Dar es Salaam. The client is the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC). According to a TRC employee speaking to the industry report "Rail Business", operation with the double-decker carriages is expected to begin later this year. The first railway lines in Tanzania were built during the German colonial rule at the end of the 19th century in what was then German East Africa.
During the overhaul and revision in Mukran, the carriages built in 1994 in Görlitz received a new paint job, the bogies, wheel bearings, and brakes were inspected and replaced, and the installation of air conditioning was prepared.
Couplings need to be converted
Moreover, the 30-year-old carriages need to be converted to center buffer couplings, explains BPS managing director Ulrich Rudler. For his company founded in 2014, this is "one of the largest orders so far," he said. Making a carriage operational takes about eight weeks.
BPS in Mukran has 27 employees and is part of the Enon Group, a holding company focused on the railway sector. BPS specializes in the repair and maintenance of railway vehicles. "I would describe us as a workshop. The oldest thing we've renovated here was a steam locomotive from the year 1911," said Rudler.
The Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) is responsible for the upcoming transport of the first locomotive to Dar es Salaam. This will be handled by the heavy cargo ship "BBC Amber".
Ulrich Rudler, the managing director of BPS, mentioned that converting the 30-year-old carriages to center buffer couplings is a significant part of this project, making it one of the largest orders for his company.
