Vision of Railway Network Expansion in East Africa

Following many years of under investment, the benefits of resurrecting rail as a major, efficient, and environmentally friendly means of bulk transportation of passengers and freight are becoming more and more evident, not only in East Africa, but in many developing and developed countries throughout the world.

At the time of the initial railway concept and subsequent construction in this region, circa 1900, most of the track was laid as “Narrow Gauge”, either 1000 mm or 1067 mm, which was quite satisfactory for railway system performance and capacity aspirations at that time. However, many of these systems have either been removed, fallen into disrepair or continue to operate in an inefficient manner with significant subsidised support.

Therefore, with such significant levels of investment needed, the operational, capacity enhancement and financial benefits of converting existing systems to standard gauge (1435 mm) to ensure more efficient system integration at border control points must be carefully considered as part of any planned investment strategy.

Currently, the East African region comprises a huge and growing market. Kenya, Uganda and Southern Sudan have developed or are developing major infrastructure enhancement proposals. In all cases, these include rail infrastructure, see details below:‐

These regions have also recognised the operational, capacity and economic benefits of moving to a standard gauge operation to ensure a key objective of developing an integrated, efficient, high speed, high capacity railway transport system is secured in order to ensure this is competitive and commercially viable with other bulk goods transportation forms.

Дата добавления: 2015-07-20