POWERING electric trains and staffing each journey with technicians to sort out the situation if any problem arises is becoming a singularly substantial unit in activities of the Tanzania Electric Supply Co. Ltd (TANESCO).

Boniface Nyamo-Honga, the corporation’s director general, made this remark here yesterday at a briefing on the achievements of the institution in the past four years, which saw the completion of the first stages of the electric train project, and start of Dar-Dodoma shuttle services.

TANESCO and the management for the standard gauge railway will soon establish the SGR-TANESCO power zone as part of efforts to end any power disruptions.

Like other zones the new unit will have its managers and allocated staff on a regular basis to ensure monitor power operations within the railway line and in power substations powering the trains, he said.

The problem of disruptions has posed a challenge to the TANESCO management for a while, from inception of regular shuttles between the commercial capital and the seat of government mid last year, he admitted.

Creating a specialised zone is expected to ease the staffing situation and distribution of expertise when there is a direct channel to higher management if problems are noticed, he said.

Basic staffing includes technicians placed on trains in all journeys to check how the systems work and if any hiatus occurs at any point, or indeed at any moment of operations.

Electrical systems staffing in the trains is essential as we have experienced shortcomings in the past few months, as it was the first time the country had experience of such trains but now TANESCO technicians are getting well versed with the systems, he said.

Hiccups experienced include that of an SGR train travelling from Dar es Salaam to Dodoma late last year being delayed for several hours due to technical problems, the second time the electric-powered train encountered a daunting challenge.

A newspaper story on December 5 said SGR commuter train services were temporarily disrupted as most regions experienced blackouts, which shows that the state of power supply in general affects electric train operations, analysts noted. 

Earlier, an entry on 31st July said that monkeys and owls were being blamed for causing an electrical fault that led to a two-hour halt of the electricity powered train, and many started worrying whether its services were predictable and sustainable.