Kigoma Railway Station
General Information
Kigoma is a boarder town on the eastern coast of Lake Tanganyika, to the west of Tanzania. The town is at the terminus of the Central Railway Line from Dar es Salaam. More significantly, Kigoma is an important transshipment point for international freight to/from Burundi, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Zambia via Kigoma Port on Lake Tanganyika. Services on Lake Tanganyika are provided by the Marine Services Company, which also runs similar services on Lake Victoria and Lake Nyasa.
Railway History and Operations
Contruction of the Central Railway Line reached Kigoma in 1914 during German Rule in Tanganyika (1883-1919). Kigoma has since grown into an active commercial center,with a population of about 124,056 people at 2002 and hosting the administrative headquarters of Kigoma Region. The railway distance between Dar Es Salaam and Kigoma is 1254 Km.
Kigoma Port
Main features at Kigoma include:
- Kigoma Railway Station, including a passenger and parcels terminal.
- Goods Shed for consigning and receiving domestic traffic.
- Kigoma Port Goods Shed for consigning and receiving transit traffic.
- Other Attractions include:
- Lake Tanganyika: The longest (670km) and second deepest (4,725ft) lake in the World
- The World-famous Gombe Stream National Park, a Chimpazee sanctuary
- The Steamer MV Liemba – A survivor of two World Wars and still sailing strong at around 100 years of age.
- Ujiji Town, the place where, in 1871, British researcher H.M. Stanley met fellow adventurer Dr. David Livingstone and uttered the famous "Dr. Livingstone I presume"
