AfricaPress-Tanzania: TOWARDS curbing the spread of corona virus, the management of Tanzania Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) suspended cross-border passenger train services on March 30, and instead, services will be confined within each country.
Tazara Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Engineer Bruno Ching’andu, made the disclosure in response to questions on the Authority’s strategy to curb the spread of COVID-19.
On cargo trains, he stated, the train crews are screened for coronavirus symptoms by health authorities at the entry border points of Tunduma and Nakonde.
Crew members found with symptoms are not allowed to proceed. Responding on how Tazara has been managing to maintain the level-seat directive in its commuter train, Engineer Ching’andu explained: “We began implementing the level seat arrangement on 6th April 2020, and we have deployed police and coach attendants on the train to maintain order.
“Each coach attendant locks the coach doors after attaining a level seat of 80 passengers. Doors are only opened when a passenger disembarks and another passenger is allowed in to take the empty seat.
Tickets are sold in accordance with level seat capacity and it is only passengers with tickets that are allowed to board,” he further explained.
Furthermore, he elaborated, each coach has two sanitiser containers and passengers are directed to sanitize their hands upon embarking and disembarking.
Furthermore, passengers are also advised to wash their hands at the two terminal stations of Dar es Salaam and Mwakanga.
Passengers should have their tickets before boarding the trains, and these are issued according to the number of the seats available in each passenger wagon, meaning that only those with tickets are be allowed to board so as to enforce the level seat directive.
Passengers making round trips are very few and it is mainly those on way sidings who, nonetheless, do so at their own expenses as they are made to pay double the fare.
The doubling of the fare is meant to discourage passengers from making round trips, stressed the CEO.
