Posted on 30 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 25 August, Ugandan finance minister Syda Bbumba signed a revised agreement on the Kenya-Uganda railway concession, the Daily Monitor reports: “The agreement ends a bitter continental fight over the network, which pitted Ugandan and Kenyan businessmen jostling with Egyptian investors to replace the South African firm that originally won the 25-year concession over the [...] [...more]
Posted on 20 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
In the words of The EastAfrican, what has been going on at Rift Valley Railways (RVR) “involves a colourful cast of inept public officials and World Bank advisors, scheming businessmen and profiteers, political sharks, an ambitious and untouchable Kenyan investment house and a brash private equity operator from Egypt with lots of cash.” Ugandan businessman [...] [...more]
Posted on 13 August 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Citadel Capital, the Egyptian private equity firm with a 51% stake in Rift Valley Railways (RVR), says it is holding talks with the Ugandan government concerning two lines that were excluded from the original concession deal. These are the 507km Tororo-Pakwach section and the 300km Kampala- Kasese route, which has been out of service for [...] [...more]
Posted on 18 June 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
It has been officially announced in Kampala, East African Business Week reports, that the Ugandan government intends to build a standard gauge railway to connect the capital and its border at Malaba, where it joins the Kenya Railways. It has called for consultants to undertake the preliminary engineering design – a process expected to take [...] [...more]
Posted on 07 June 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Rift Valley Railways (RVR) is enhancing security measures to ensure safer movement of containers to the inland container depots (ICD) at Nairobi and Kampala. To date, RVR acting chief marketing and commercial manager James Nganga explains, 81 container wagons have been fitted with protective steel bars, including a complete train of 40 vehicles. Theft from [...] [...more]
Posted on 06 April 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
On 23 March, Canarail vice-president Don Gillstrom, whose Montreal consulting company carried out a feasibility study of Uganda’s 503km Tororo-Pakwach line in late 2009, disclosed that complete restoration would cost an estimated Shs1.5 trillion (about $US750 million). The route has been out of use since 1997, when persisting insurgent activity caused damage and made operation [...] [...more]
Posted on 19 February 2010 by Railways Africa Editor
Addressing the East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) at the Ugandan Parliament in Kampala, President Yoweri Museveni said the poor infrastructure in the region needed immediate attention. “The problem of infrastructure in East Africa is a matter of survival,” he said, “especially electricity, the roads and railway. If we don’t improve, it will lead us into [...] [...more]
Posted on 30 November 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Commenting on plans to revive the 333km Kampala-Kasese line in Uganda, projected to cost $US40 million, observers point out that the Ugandan government spent $35 million in 2007 to spruce up Entebbe airport ahead of Queen Elizabeth’s visit. [...more]
Posted on 06 November 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
A recently published American study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences researched in depth the two man-eating lions that terrorised construction workers on the Uganda railway 120 years ago. Their activities, which inspired three Hollywood films, may not have been as deadly as legend had it, the scientists conclude. Lieutenant-Colonel John Patterson, [...] [...more]
Posted on 06 November 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
A project to reconstruct Uganda’s 505km line from Tororo to Pakwach via Gulu is being resumed after nearly two decades at an estimated cost of Sh4 billion (about $US2m). The delay was caused by insurgency in the north. In the interim, many people settled on railway land and now have to vacate. Some 500 dwellings [...] [...more]
Posted on 09 October 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
The transport ministers of Kenya and Uganda, Ali Chirau Mwakwere and John Nasasira, have signed a bilateral agreement on behalf of their governments covering the proposed construction and management of a standard gauge railway between Mombasa and Kampala, including a branch to Kisumu on Lake Victoria. This comes in the wake of Presidents Mwai Kibaki [...] [...more]
Posted on 02 October 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Uganda’s MV Kalangala has returned from servicing in Mwanza, Tanzania, and back in action on Lake Victoria. According to ministry of works and transport public relations officer Susan Kataike, the vessel underwent a mandatory docking inspection during which two defects were pointed out by the Lloyds surveyor. “The ministry is committed to continuing to plan, [...] [...more]
