He told Reuters that trains on the existing metre gauge track travel at about 40km/h using single-deck wagons carrying at most two short containers. On the new standard gauge line, longer trains would comprise wagons with double-deck container holders, carry 10,000 tonnes of freight and travelling at an average speed of 100-120km/h.

“Years of mismanagement in Kenya and Uganda have meant their governments neglected proper maintenance of tracks and trains on the existing line. As a result, much of the freight destined for Kenya’s interior and landlocked neighbours is moved by road. Although a much cheaper form of transport, the railway carries less than 6% of cargo destined for Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo, parts of Tanzania, south Sudan and Ethiopia.”

Theft from containers in transit, according to the Kenya international freight and warehousing association (Kifwa) and the Kenya shippers’ agents’ association, is masterminded by a cartel that manipulates port clearing systems and breaks into containers. Recent investigations by Kifwa indicate that containers destined for Uganda, Rwanda and Burundi are most at risk because of the lengthy time they are in transit.

The Nation, published in the city, quotes RVR general manager for the eastern region James Nyambari saying “the biggest headache is the dumping of garbage on the track.
People are employed almost daily to remove the trash from the railway and then wagons are used to take it away. We cannot do any useful work that way,” he said.

Sewage also overflows onto the track in some areas, making it muddy and slippery, resulting in wheel slip that could lead to an accident like the one at Mashimoni in December 2009.
Sometimes RVR has to double up locomotives because one has insufficient traction, due to slipping, to move the train. Alternatively, trains have to be split in two at Kibera station.

RVR is concerned at the possibility of a derailment affecting a train carrying dangerous substances such as liquid petroleum gas (LPG), which could set off a fire with damage of “unimaginable proportions” to houses built close to the railway and each other.

A 30-day deadline issued by the government on 21 March, requiring people to move from railway property, has come and gone, but “from what the Nation observed in Kibera on Saturday morning, the residents are not about to budge.”

Kenya Railways managing director Nduva Muli is quoted saying that a recently completed study established it will cost about $US250 million to revamp the commuter rail service in Nairobi. Of this, $200 million would be raised by issuing an infrastructure bond and the rest would come from the government’s annual budget. The design of a new line linking Jomo Kenyatta International Airport to the city centre is complete, Muli told the Nation. The line is to terminate at Unit 3, the domestic departures and arrivals area.

The envisaged upgrade will include the replacement of the present rolling stock with 40 new diesel-electric multiple-unit trainsets. The “show-stoppers” to this project, Muli told the paper, are the encroachers living, working and in some cases even walking, right next to the railway, and the “loosely organised” matatu terminus at the Nairobi station.

In a statement dated 23 April, the day after the expiry of the eviction deadline, Kenyan director of Amnesty International Justus Nyang’aya asked for an extension saying: “Without proper safeguards, the proposed mass evictions will have a devastating impact on people’s access to water, sanitation, food and schools and could well create a humanitarian emergency. They will result in forced evictions, which contravene Kenya’s obligations under international human rights laws.” He estimated that as many as 50,000 people would be affected.

“While it is recognised that the government is taking important steps to upgrade the railway system, for the tens of thousands of people living in the affected area, the demolition of homes and informal businesses will be socially and economically disastrous,” he added.

He said no comprehensive resettlement or compensation plan had been made public and the government appears to have made no provision for those that will lose their livelihood if the eviction goes ahead. In terms of international human rights law, evictions should only be carried out as a last resort and only after all other feasible alternatives to eviction have been explored in genuine consultation with affected communities.

Currently, the reserve land on 100 feet of either side of the track is marked by a series of upright rail steel bars planted into the ground. Though residents are aware of this, many insist they have lived there all their lives, have built houses there and would have nowhere to go if they were to be removed.

According to press reports, all this is only half the story.
“Unfortunately, most of the land bordering the track was excised and parcelled out to individuals long ago. Most properties belonging to the corporation were expropriated by influential politicians and civil servants during the Kanu era. In fact, when, for example, Kibera and Mukuru slum-dwellers moved in to put up illegal structures right near the rail tracks, they were emboldened by the fact that bigwigs had shared out all the corporation’s lucrative land.”

Hoever, observers point out, some of the many construction projects undertaken by China in Africa have run into problems. A $9 billion deal signed between Beijing and Kinshasa in the Democratic Republic of Congo, for instance, is said to have “shrunk” to $6 billion. According to one report, “questions have been raised over the disappearance of a $23 million ‘signing bonus’ that Chinese companies were to have paid their Congolese counterparts.”

Western critics say China, acting like a new colonial power on the continent, is interested only in extracting Africa’s natural resources to feed its fast-growing economy, and cares little for African development.

The Chinese, it is said, see this as a lingering “Cold War mentality.” Shen Jiru of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences dismisses this. He is quoted saying: “We are providing free-interest loans and aid, and we are a reliable backup for Africa’s economic development.”

Ethiopian President Meles Zenawi defends the railway deal, saying “It’s in their (China’s) interest to spend tens of billions of dollars in Africa and it’s in our interest to have access to those tens of billions of dollars.”

The 30km urban light rail network is to have two lines, one from Ayat through Tor Hayloch (Army Hospital) to Jimma Ber, and the other from Shiro Meda to Kality.

A new 656km railway is to replace the existing Ethio-Djibouti line as far as the border. Four companies have signed a memorandum of understanding with the Ethio-Djibouti Railway Corporation to undertake their own feasibility studies. These include an Indian company, Overseas Infrastructure Alliance (OIA); two Chinese companies, China Communication Construction Company (CCCC) and China Railway Group (CRG); as well as a Russian company. This line is estimated to cost 1.5 billion Br. At this stage it is not clear how the remainder of the 784km route to the port of Djibouti is to be tackled.

The long-term vision of the government of Ethiopia is to construct some 5,000 km of railways nationwide.

The tripartite task force appointed by the regional economic communities concluded that concessioning is problematic in Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania. It was noted that none of the currently operating concessions had registered any meaningful success.

The task force has consequently directed that a model concession agreement be drawn up. According to a statement issued by the EAC acting head for corporate communications and public affairs Owora Richard Othieno, “The development of this agreement is ongoing under the north-south corridor aid for trade programme.”

During the period 2006-2007, the statement explained, the three partner states of Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania privatised their railway operations in terms of long-term concessions.

The joint Kenya and Uganda railway operations went to Sheltam of South Africa under the business name of Rift Valley Railways (RVR) while Tanzania’s railway operations were handed to Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd (Rites).

The performance of the concessionaires had been the subject of public debate but overall the privatisation exercise did not – in the words of East African Community council of ministers chairman Dr Diodorus Kamala – yield the expected results of enhancing cargo transport by rail.

When the East African Railways master plan is implemented, Dr Kamala said, it will address issues related to legal and institutional framework, traffic projections, and technical and operational aspects, and will hence improve railway performance in East Africa. The EAC finance ministers have committed themselves to setting aside resources for the detailed design of “the standard gauge prioritised East African railways network.”

The EAC council of ministers has approved the establishment of a railways regulatory authority at regional level, to coordinate competition, exchange of equipment, policy development and investment.

The financing proposal was to be considered in May 2010 during the EAC pre-budget consultations.

Dr Kamala revealed that the process of developing an EAC anthem had cost the EAC $US411,042 to date and that the projected budget for finalising the process during fiscal year 2010/2011 is $129,500. The anthem is to have three verses and a chorus in Kiswahili which highlighting the essence of the East African society, its prominence, aspirations and desire to be united, prosperous and stable.

Speaking to The EastAfrican newspaper at the EAC’s 3rd Investment Conference in Kampala, EAC deputy secretary general in charge of planning and infrastructure Alloys Mutabingwa said the region had ruled out the traditional approach of “begging our development partners”, for fear of delaying its projects.

EAC is also exploring how it could offer infrastructure bonds to raise more resources. “If Kenya has been able to succeed why not at the regional level. It is a question of commitment,” Mutabingwa was quoted saying.

Uganda is confident that the engineering section of its army will be able to help with railway construction. “We should only seek foreign assistance to guide us,” President Yoweri Museveni told the conference, whose theme was “EAC common market: the preferred investment destination.”

Even though the EAC hopes to do without foreign funding to build the new railway, the paper reports, “more than 10 private firms have reportedly shown interest while the US and China have started lobbying to invest in the sector.”

“They can come in, but on our terms. This is a profitable venture that has attracted everybody’s attention but the private sector will participate under the public-private- partnership (PPP) arrangement,” Mutabingwa said.

The partner states’ contributions are to be consolidated into a proposed railways’ fund to be managed by the East African Development Bank. An infrastructure agency will be formed to co-ordinate both human and capital resources, currently the responsibility of the EAC secretariat.

“As a matter of principle we have proposed an equal percentage across the board. Each member state will contribute from its budget,” Mutabingwa was quoted saying.

The view of several experts – that the existing railway should be upgraded rather than build an entirely new system – has been rejected. “Our latest position is that we should have a modern railway line that can benefit future generations even though it may not have immediate returns. We are looking at it purely from a business standpoint,” a spokesman explained.

EAC director of infrastructure Phillip Wambugu said East Africa “will introduce mass transit systems to decongest cities and re-align economic zones according to planned infrastructure.”

The new line is to run from Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania to Kigali in Rwanda, with a branch to Burundi. Li was speaking at the recent African Infrastructure summit.

One report quotes an entrepreneur who has built 12 rooms on railway land, each of which he rents out for Sh1,000 a month. He says he has no intention of pulling down his structures “any time soon”, and says he would like to see anyone try to make him do so.

KRC has signed a deal with InfraCo, a European firm, in connection with an urban commuter rail scheme in Nairobi estimated to cost Sh13.4 billion. The project would not be able to proceed unless the land encroachment situation is corrected.