Railways are widely regarded as crucial pillars of climate action, with electric trains offering a low-emission alternative to road and air transport. However, Tanzania's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) exemplifies a growing paradox: climate-friendly infrastructure is increasingly vulnerable to the very climate shocks it aims to mitigate. This flagship project, while designed for sustainability, is now battling the severe impacts of extreme weather.

Unveiled in 2024 as a symbol of modernity, Tanzania's SGR is a USD 2 billion project constructed by the Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi. It replaced an aging meter-gauge railway and re-anchored the vital Central Corridor, connecting the port of Dar es Salaam to landlocked countries like Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, and the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo. With opulent terminals, gliding escalators, digital ticketing, and spacious carriages, the SGR significantly reduced travel times and eased road congestion by shifting both passengers and cargo from diesel-powered trucks to electric rail, fostering initial optimism about its role in national development.

Less than two years later, this optimism has been challenged by the harsh reality of extreme weather events, which scientists link to climate change. On a rainy Wednesday morning in Dodoma on January 19, 2026, the SGR terminal, usually a hub of efficient activity, experienced significant delays. Passengers, faced hours of waiting after an announcement cited heavy rains causing a technical fault. This delay highlighted the profound inconvenience and frustration caused by such disruptions, impacting critical appointments and cultural timelines.

This incident was not isolated. On December 31, 2025, authorities suspended train services between Dodoma and Morogoro after floodwaters from heavy rains washed away a riverbank, leaving a railway bridge dangerously exposed. Machibya Masanja, director general of the Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC), dismissed claims of faulty design, stating that the bridge foundations were robust. Instead, he attributed the damage to human activity, specifically farming and settlement in floodplains, and outlined plans for dams and control structures to manage water flow.

However, urban planners and infrastructure resilience experts like Honesty Mshana argue that frequent disruptions expose deeper flaws in the project's planning and execution. Mshana contends that the railway lacks sufficient resilience to cope with flooding, pointing out that long stretches cut through floodplains and river basins without adequate culverts, raised embankments, or reinforced drainage. He criticized the approach of copying designs without incorporating local knowledge and climate projections, emphasizing that resilient systems require greater upfront investment to avoid larger losses later. These observations suggest a need reforms and more critical examination.