This comes as a great relief for ordinary residents who are dreaming of owning a personal car and also save many commuters from the discomfort of travelling on congested private buses.

Transport Minister, Dr Harrison Mwakyembe, commended TRL engineers and other workers for their patriotic spirit by renovating coaches, wagons and locomotives efficiently and cheaply. "In the past we used to dish out 18bn/- a year for rehabilitation of the same workload, but TRL has done the work at the cost of 2.6bn/- only. This is wonderful. Thank you," the minister said at the launching ceremony.

According to Transport Minister Harrison Mwakyembe, commuter trains operated by Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) and the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (TAZARA) will ferry approximately 30,000 passengers a day. Trains will operate six days a week, during the morning and evening - not in the afternoon and late at night.

One track covers a 25km (15.5 miles) journey between Dar Es Salaam's Mwakanga and Tazara railway stations and the second track runs for 20km (12.4 miles) between Ubungo-Maziwa and City railway stations.

A one-way ticket costs 400 Tanzanian shillings (about $0.25, £0.15), which compares favourably to commercial buses fares which range between 500 shillings and 1,000 shillings - depending on the journey.

TAZARA Station Mistress, Ms Walivyo Maneno, said operations started well yesterday and hinted on a plan where seven more coaches will be added on top of present seven and make it 14 in the near future.