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 [...] [...more]
Posted on 20 September 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
On 13 August, World Bank president Robert Zoellick said he was unimpressed with the poor state of the Kenya-Uganda railway. “Is this the line which was built by some of those people who were eaten by the man-eaters?” he asked while in Malaba (on the border with Kenya) to assess the performance of the one-stop [...] [...more]
Posted on 27 August 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Uganda and Tanzania are reportedly considering a possible linking of the port at Tanga to Southern Sudan. The existing Tanzanian railway from Tanga ends at Arusha (about 400km) and a new extension would be needed to Musoma (about 400km) on Lake Victoria. Freight would be conveyed from there by ferry to Port Bell (about 350km) [...] [...more]
Posted on 03 August 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
At a recent meeting in India, minister of state for railways K H Muniyappa promised visiting Ugandan minister of state for urban development U Tibamanya all possible assistance in developing integrated rail services in his country. He said that Rail India Technical and Economic Services Ltd (Rites), a public sector undertaking under the ministry of [...] [...more]
Posted on 10 July 2009 by Railways Africa Editor
Speaking in Kampala on 3 July, Rift Valley Railways (RVR) executive chairman Brown Ondego announced that Ugandan rail passenger service is to commence in October 2009. This will be a facility over and above the obligations in RVR’s concession agreement, which makes no provision for passenger service in Uganda. “We are doing it due to [...] [...more]
