IN SHORT: Rwanda and Tanzania agreed to advance the $2.5 billion Isaka-Kigali Standard Gauge Railway following talks in Dar es Salaam on May 3 between Presidents Samia Suluhu Hassan and Paul Kagame. The 422-kilometre electrified line will link Rwanda’s capital to Tanzania’s port of Dar es Salaam via Isaka, cutting transport costs for landlocked Rwanda and opening a faster freight corridor to the Indian Ocean for Central African goods. Tanzania holds 52% of the cost ($1.3 billion) and Rwanda the remaining 48% ($1.2 billion).
Rwanda and Tanzania have committed to accelerating a $2.5 billion standard gauge railway that would give landlocked Rwanda its first direct rail connection to the sea, completing the Central Corridor from Dar es Salaam through Isaka to Kigali and linking Rwanda to one of East Africa’s fastest-growing port gateways. Presidents Samia and Kagame finalised the commitment during high-level talks in Dar es Salaam on May 3 that also covered port access, energy cooperation and trade barrier elimination. The agreement marks the strongest political signal in years that the long-delayed Isaka-Kigali SGR will actually be built.
- The Isaka-Kigali SGR covers 422 kilometres, of which approximately 271 kilometres run through Tanzanian territory from Isaka to the Rusumo border crossing, and 150 kilometres through Rwanda from Rusumo to Kigali. The line will be electrified, with 25kV AC overhead catenary, making it one of East Africa’s most modern rail infrastructure projects.
- Rwanda has no railway network at all and currently relies on road transport for approximately 70% of its imports passing through Tanzania. Freight from Dar es Salaam to Kigali by road takes four to seven days and is subject to severe cost premiums from congested border crossings. The SGR cuts that journey to under 12 hours and reduces logistics costs by an estimated 40%.
- Tanzania’s section from Dar es Salaam to Isaka is already operational as part of the country’s broader SGR network, which launched freight services in June 2025. The section from Dar es Salaam to Makutupora carries both passenger and freight traffic, and the Tabora to Kigoma extension is currently under financing syndication led by the AfDB, Deutsche Bank and Société Générale.
- Rwanda is seeking more than $1.2 billion for its section, and has historically partnered with Turkish and Chinese infrastructure firms on major projects. Tanzania has secured $2.33 billion in syndicated financing from Standard Chartered for its wider SGR expansion. Development finance institutions including the AfDB are expected to be approached for co-financing on the Rwanda section.
- The SGR ties directly into Tanzania’s Julius Nyerere Hydropower Project, now operational at 2,115MW, which provides the clean electricity to power the electrified rail system. Rwanda’s share of the Rusizi III regional hydropower project (206MW) connecting Rwanda, Burundi and the DRC is also under construction, underpinning the energy base for future electrified transport.
- The two presidents also agreed to eliminate all remaining non-tariff barriers by May 2026, with a bilateral NTB deadline set to coincide with the EAC’s June 30 target for full regional NTB elimination across the community. Bilateral Rwanda-Tanzania trade reached TZS 644 billion in 2025.
The Isaka-Kigali SGR is the missing segment in East Africa’s Central Corridor rail vision: a continuous electrified rail network from Dar es Salaam to Kigali, with extensions planned to Burundi and the DRC. That vision has been discussed for two decades and partially built for one. The distinction in 2026 is that both the political will and the financing architecture are more advanced than at any previous point. Tanzania’s operational SGR sections have proven the demand, the engineering and the commercial case. Rwanda’s need for affordable port access is acute. The Kagame-Samia summit has converted that need into a concrete bilateral commitment. Africaspoint covered the parallel Zimbabwe-Zambia $2.18 billion rail deal as part of Southern Africa’s infrastructure push: $2bn railway rewires Southern Africa.
The Bigger Picture: A Dar es Salaam to Kigali SGR connection creates a logistics transformation for Rwanda and Central Africa. Goods from the DRC’s Copperbelt, Burundi’s nickel fields and Rwanda’s own growing industrial base all benefit from faster, cheaper access to the Indian Ocean. The Hormuz disruption has made alternative trade route resilience a strategic priority across the continent. East Africa’s Central Corridor, fully operational from coast to capital, is exactly the kind of route diversification that mineral exporters and agricultural processors need when any single corridor becomes unreliable. Rwanda’s role as a regional services hub, conference destination and growing manufacturing base makes affordable logistics connectivity an economic multiplier, not just an infrastructure project.
Source: The EastAfrican, May 5 2026 / TanzaniaInvest, May 2026
