# UGANDA | Railways



## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

This thread is about railways in Uganda


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## dimlys1994 (Dec 19, 2010)

From Rail Journal:



> http://www.railjournal.com/index.ph...-chinese-firms-for-new-lines.html?channel=542
> 
> *Uganda lines up Chinese firms for new lines*
> Friday, June 20, 2014
> ...


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## tjrgx (Oct 12, 2013)

*Map of Uganda SGR Alignment - Eastern Route*



Aaraldi said:


> pulled from the new SGR Newsletter


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## tjrgx (Oct 12, 2013)

*Standard Guage Railway Uganda Promo*


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## tjrgx (Oct 12, 2013)

*SPECIAL REPORT: What Makes Uganda Standard Gauge Railway Costly?*

http://www.chimpreports.com/special-report-what-makes-uganda-standard-gauge-railway-costly/

External borrowing is largely dependent on the country’s GDP, Debt to GDP ratio, Revenue to GDP Ratio, and the country’s risk as assessed by international credit rating agencies.

The table below provides some information on the key macro parameters for the respective countries.









The Ethiopian-Djibouti line, which opened in October, cost $3.4 Billion for 656km while the Ugandan leg of 273km will cost $2.3bn. Kenya’s 472km stretch will cost $3.4billion.

Why should Uganda’s railways line be more expensive?

During the interview, Kyamugambi said the construction cost of railways “majorly depends on the unique characteristics of the specific project as determined by the design standard, the geology, terrain and hydrology of the project site.”

Kyamugambi further said the Ministry of Works and Transport carried out a study conducted by an international German consultant Gauff Ingenieure who provided the preliminary Engineering and feasibility study for the Malaba-Kampala SGR based on AREMA[1] standards.

“The consultant estimate without locomotives and rolling stock was USD2.4 billion for an electrified railway system and USD2.0 billion for diesel system,” said Kyamugambi.

“The contract price for the Eastern route, exclusive of locomotives and rolling stock and provisional sums is USD2 billion, but based on superior Chinese standards. Uganda’s contract cost for the Eastern Route of USD2.3 billion therefore includes locomotives, rolling stock and provisional sums,” he elaborated

He emphasised that the contract price and negotiations for the EPC turnkey contract for Malaba-Kampala SGR was based on the Employers requirements derived from the Gauff design, and NCIP agreements which were then provided to CHEC – the contractor.

“It is important to note that the railway systems can all be Standard Gauge but designed to different standards e.g. AREMA or Chinese or British or any other standards.”

Kyamugambi said the Northern Corridor countries agreed on China Class 1 Railway standard to ensure a seamless transport network while Tanzania is basing on AREMA standard while Ethiopia is China Class 2 Standard.

The AREMA standard is not a national standard but a standard of an association of some railways in North America while the Chinese Standard is a national standard.

The railways in the four countries are dominantly freight but will have passenger services.

The passenger trains can move at a faster speed compared to freight trains because they are shorter and lighter while the freight trains are longer and heavier.

Kyamugambi said it is important to differentiate the attainable speeds of passenger and freight trains when analyzing the capabilities of the railway systems.

He further pointed out that Chinese Standards, although engineered from AREMA and British standards are much safer, robust, and durable, for example, the “embankments are higher and compacted to a specified densities, the drainage of the embankment is well done in very strong herringbone structures to protect the embankment leading to lower maintenance cost.”

He said it also has lower operation and maintenance requirements.

Over the last 30 years, it is only China that has invested heavily in railways and used them to catapult their economy, justifying the use of their standard.

Kyamugambi said in railway development, the highest cost is in bridges, followed by the earthworks (embankment), truck, stations, electrification, signaling etc.

For example, on Malaba- Kampala, 35 percent of the route is in bridges, 25 percent is in earth works and 10 percent in track, 10 percent stations, 5 percent electrification, 5 percent in signaling and 10 percent others.

Kyamugambi also pointed to terms of obtaining funds from China.

He said to borrow funds from the China EXIM bank, projects must be designed to Chinese Standards, EPC/Turnkey contracting mode, certain environmental standards must be addressed, and the contractor must be Chinese.










Kyamugambi said given that the Ugandan System is electric (at additional cost of 0.54m/km), with a major super bridge over the River Nile, and with 53KM in a swamp, Ugandan Malaba-Kampala SGR cost is comparatively lower than the Mombasa-Nairobi SGR section in Kenya.

Furthermore, the cost per route-KM for the Naivasha- Kisumu section is USD13.7M per route- KM due to its unique characteristics including difficult terrain especially in the rift valley region where major bridges will be required.

He said Uganda deliberately took a decision to invest in an electric system due to the lower operation and maintenance requirements (at least 40 percent) compared to the diesel system.

“This will significantly reduce the project life time cost,” he noted.

Another important question on everyone’s mind is why invest all this money, of all places, in the Northern Corridor?

Kyamugambi explained that the Northern Corridor is the “busiest and most important transport route in East and Central Africa, providing a gateway through Kenya to the landlocked economies of Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Eastern DR Congo. It also serves Southern Sudan.”

The less busy alternative transport network serving the landlocked Great Lakes Region, said Kyamugambi, is through Tanzania, called the Central Corridor linked to Dar Es Salaam. This uses Tanzania’s Central Line.










He further pointed out that the Northern route is important because the exports of Kenya to Uganda are estimated at about USD 1bn and Uganda imports about 10m tonnes through the northern Corridor.

Kyamugambi said the issue of cargo capacity will be severely limited by the fact that each wagon vessel carries 44 containers whereas a train can carry up to 216 containers. Therefore, each train can only be offloaded on into five vessels requiring about 15 hours to load and offload the vessels.

For the Malaba-Kampala SGR, up to 40 trains can be operated in a day transporting 8,460 containers.

“If such amount of Cargo was going to be transported on the lake, assuming that a massive of five wagon ferries are purchased, we would require 40 days to evacuate cargo of one train,” said Kyamugambi.

“This means that the route not be viable. This coupled with the fact that oil products cannot be transported on fresh water make the Dar Es Salaam Mwanza Kampala Route can only be a minor alternative to the Mombasa-Kampala Route which should be looked at as the bark born of the railway network to the sea.”










Kyamugambi said the Ethiopian system was first designed for Class IV and later upgraded to Class II and this resulted in addenda thus increasing the costs.

There are major differences as illustrated above in the terrain, topography and hydrology of the two project sites thus resulting in higher amounts of rock fill, soil cut, embankments, bridges, geo-synthetics that are major cost centres of railway development.

The Class II system looks cheaper at investment stage but will be more expensive in operation and maintenance. Because of the construction standard requirement.

It is important for railways designed for 100 years to look at life cycle costs rather than investment costs.

For the Uganda project one of the major cost centres is the bridge over the River Nile which is 1KM long whereas in Ethiopia the bridge over Awash is significantly narrow.

Kyamugambi said the design of the Ethiopian route was limited by the capacity of Djibouti Port, adding, “if adjustment factors are made for variances in material costs, quantities, risks, cost escalations and transport, the cost in Uganda should be 2.1 higher than the cost in Ethiopia.”










The major differences between the Chinese standard and the AREMA standard are: The formation width (top width of embankment) is 7.7 meters for Chinese standards while AREMA is 6.6 meters.










SGR records indicate the height, design and construction of the embankment which is limited to a minimum of 2.5 meters high for Chinese standard and 0.64 meters for AREMA.

These high embankments in the Chinese standards require slope protection.

The Chinese classification requires the herringbone concrete structure for protection of embankments and concrete masonry for higher embankments of 6 meters while this is not a requirement for the AREMA standards require only benching and grassing.










Kyamugambi said the safety factor in the concrete structures is higher in Chinese standards than the AREMA standards.

“The utilisation of engineering materials especially the geo-synthetics (geogrid and geotextile) for tightening the soft ground, the backfilling material and soft ground treatments are different in both Chinese and AREMA standards,” he observed.

The general design and construction differences in the two standards would therefore make a railway designed and constructed to Chinese standards (which is superior) more expensive than the one designed and constructed to AREMA standards.

Kyamugambi said both the Northern and the central corridor are important for the land locked east African countries but the northern corridor is a more viable route for Uganda as it has a higher potential to spur growth in the country and should be developed fast.


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## tjrgx (Oct 12, 2013)

*Impression of the proposed Nile Super Bridge*










1km long, axle loading 27.5 tones per axle, it will have no pillars in water

From SG Raiway Uganda


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

I wonder whether forum members might be interested in a series of posts about the history of the metre-gauge line in Kenya and Uganda? The posts would also include a survey of the line and details of locomotives and rolling stock used on the metre-gauge line? I was in East Africa (Uganda) in May 2018 and decided to develop this series of posts.

Here is the first. I hope it is of interest to members of this forum.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/05/09/uganda-railways-part-1

Other posts about the trip to Uganda, but not railway related, can be found on this link:

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/category/uganda


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## lechevallierpatrick (Nov 22, 2012)

rogerfarnworth said:


> I wonder whether forum members might be interested in a series of posts about the history of the metre-gauge line in Kenya and Uganda? The posts would also include a survey of the line and details of locomotives and rolling stock used on the metre-gauge line? I was in East Africa (Uganda) in May 2018 and decided to develop this series of posts.
> 
> Here is the first. I hope it is of interest to members of this forum.
> 
> ...


Not only very well done but certainly interessant for all railway lovers.....


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

The Uganda Railway was the name given to the metre-gauge line which ran from Mobasa to Kampala and eventually on to Kasese.

This second post provides some more information about the history of what is often called 'The Lunatic Line'.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/05/11/uganda-railways-part-2


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

This third post in the series starts the journey along the 'Lunatic Line'. We will eventually be in Uganda. My first visit to Uganda was on this train. I flew to Mombasa in 1994 and then travelled by rail to Kampala.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/05/14/uganda-railways-part-3


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

The next two posts cover the length of the old Uganda Railway to Kisumu and Butere. Originally, this line was of significant strategic importance. Trains along the line provided access to Lake Victoria and the inland steamers that then provided access to the Great Lakes region and to Kampala via Port Bell.

The construction of the line from Nakuru to Kampala and beyond changed thing significantly and the old main line became a branch-line and has seen little traffic over recent years.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...ays-part-10-west-of-nakuru-the-line-to-kisumu

Before we return to Nakuru to follow the main line towards Kampala, one further post about the Kisumu line. There was a short branch which left the Kisumu to Nakuru line within the confines of Kisumu city. This post focusses on that line.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...ways-part-11-the-branch-from-kisumu-to-butere


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

Back at Nakuru, we prepare ourselves to travel on to Kampala. This post takes us to Eldoret.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/05/27/uganda-railways-part-12-nakuru-to-eldoret

Eldoret is a junction station. The branch-line service to Kitale set off from Eldoret. We follow its route.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/uganda-railways-part-13-eldoret-to-kitale

We really are now almost in Uganda! The is the last post focussing on the Uganda Railway in Kenya. It takes us from Eldoret to the border with Uganda at Malaba.

Sadly, in this post there is little evidence of locomotives. The line has seen little use over the years. I was very fortunate to be able to travel 1st Class all the way from Mombasa to Kampala in 1994. I had no idea at the time how fragile that service was.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/05/28/uganda-railways-part-14-eldoret-to-malaba


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

With this post we have crossed the border between Kenya and Uganda. Just across the border in Tororo the mainline divides to give a Kampala/Kasese route via Jinja, and a Pakwach and Aria route via Soroti. The more northerly route through Soroti was perceived as the branch but it has been the route which has been refurbished first (in 2013).

We will follow the branch first.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/01/uganda-railways-part-15-malaba-to-soroti.

Two more posts about the branch-line to Gulu and Arua. The first takes us from Soroti to Gulu.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/uganda-railways-part-16-soroti-to-gulu

The second covers the length to the end of the branch-line.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/03/uganda-railways-part-17-gulu-to-arua


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

We have now returned to the mainline at Tororo and are heading on toward Kampala.

The story continues ....


> "We leave Tororo is a north-westerly direction following the contours on the north side of the Nagongera Road as far as Achilet (about 5 kilometres outside of Tororo). For the next 10 kilometres the railway stays north of the road until reaching Nagongera, or Nagongora, .............."


https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/05/uganda-railways-part-18-tororo-to-jinja

Of interest is the number of railway lines on the map between Tororo and Jinja. There is by far the greatest density of lines in Uganda.


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

The journey continues from Jinja to Kampala .......



> “The Nile River Bridge at Jinja was built in the late 1920s. It is perhaps the iconic structure for the whole of the metre-gauge railway system from Mombasa to Kasese.
> 
> The first railway in Uganda ran from Jinja to Namasagali on the Victoria Nile where a steamer service ran on to Masindi Port. From there passengers travelled by road through Masindi to Butiaba on Lake Albert. From there they could travel on by steamer to the Belgian Congo or north to Juba in the Sudan.
> 
> Train passengers from Kenya reached Uganda by steamer from the railhead at Kisumu and across Lake Victoria to Entebbe or Port Bell. In the mid 1920s the main line in Kenya was extended from Nakuru through Eldoret, and Tororo to Mbulamuti where it met up with the original Jinja to Namasagali line. The new line to Kampala then crossed the Nile at Jinja by a bridge carrying both the railway and a roadway underneath.”


https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/07/uganda-railways-part-19-jinja-to-kampala

The last part of my own journey to Kampala by train in 1994 commenced once a derailed freight train had been rerailed ahead of us and the passenger train was ‘given the road'. We had waited for over 6 hours at Jinja Railway Station. Travelling by rail was unreliable but really enjoyable!!


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

We are now in Kampala and preparing to travel on to Kasese.



> In 1994, I attempted to travel to Kasese and I might have been able to do so if I was prepared to wait in Kampala for the possiblity that a train migth run. In the end my trip to the South West of Uganda was much better served by a road journey via Masaka, Mbarara and Kabale.
> 
> Before we take one of those intermittent passenger services from the last century, we take a good look round Kampala Railway Station.


This post (below) is the penultimate post on the direct route from Mombasa to Kasese. After this there will be three further posts. One to complete the line to Kasese, one to review an old and defunct branch line running north from Jinja and a final post which will seek to cover the locomotives and rolling stock on the Uganda Railway .....

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/10/uganda-railways-part-20-kampala


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

This is the last post relating directly to the lines of the Uganda Railway and covers the first railway built in Uganda. The remaining posts on the "Uganda Railway" will cover the locomotives and rolling stock on the network.



> "There were two very early railway lines in Uganda. Port Bell to Kampala was one. The other was an earlier line from Jinja to Namasagali via Mbulamuti. We encountered this line as we travelled from Tororo to Jinja earlier in this series of posts. Indeed the original line from Tororo travelled to Mbulamuti to meet the older line from Jinja to Namasagali. At that time there was a good justification for this. Namagali was a significant point on an 'overland' journey from Mombasa to Cairo! Meeting the line from Jinja to Namasagali at its mid-pint allowed easy access to both significant destinations and beyond them to the Nile and to Lake Victoria."


https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...ays-part-22-jinja-via-mbulamuti-to-namasagali

There is much to explore in the Great Lakes region in Africa! This series of posts relates only to the railways providing access to Uganda but there were a whole variety of different transport services in the area which would warrant further study!


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

It was my intention, before starting this exercise to cover all locomotives and rolling stock in a single blog post. As I began to review the available information in books and on the internet, it seemed that there was enough material to justify more than one post. This and the following posts will not be fully comprehensive in nature but I hope that they provide some insights that are valuable.

Probably, along with many other people, my attention is primarily drawn to the Garratt locomotives on these lines. However, I will attempt to reflect the full range of motive power and rolling stock on the line, references are given where ever possible. Everything in this first post predates the arrival of the Garratt locomotives.

*Early Locomotives on the Uganda Railway (1896-1926)*

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...-part-23-locomotives-and-rolling-stock-part-a


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

One of the small snippets of information I have encountered while writing the series of posts on the Uganda Railway and its successors is an almost passing comment made in a number of texts about the Kenya Uganda Railway Beyer-Garratts numbered 41-44, 51 and 53. These comments refer to these locomotives being sold to Indo-China.

Someone asked me whether there was any information about what happened to these locos in any of the main texts about the metre-gauge lines in East Africa. The only specific reference appears to relate to the locos going to the 'Yunnan Railway'.

It might be that others can shed more light on this, but I thought that it was worth following up. The post below is the result of this.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.com/2018/06/24/indo-china-to-yunnan-railway



> Research suggests that there are two possible locations for these locos operations after leaving East Africa. The first, initially seeming the most likely, is the Burma-Yunnan Railway which was a British project. The second was a French project. We spend a little time focussing on each project before some final observations are made at the end of this post


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

This is the third post about Locomotives and Rolling Stock on the network of lines in Uganda and Kenya.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...s-and-rolling-stock-part-c-steam-1948-to-1977



> The network continued to make use of the best of the locomotives purchased by both the Uganda Railway and the Kenya Uganda Railways and Harbours Corporation. The EAR&H renumbered all of the older locomotives into a consistent numbering system. The first two digits of four referred to the class of locomotive and the second two digits to the number in the class. Before we move on to the new purchases, here are a few images of the older locomotives on the system, further information about these classes can be found in the previous posts in this series.


Very sadly, so very few of these locomotives have survived in any form, let alone in a condition to continue to run on the network.


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

The East African Railways and Harbours Corporation began to look at replacing its steam locomotives with more modern power units. This next post is part of that story.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...-and-rolling-stock-part-d-diesel-1948-to-1977



> It is impossible to exaggerate the tractive effort required from the motive power on the line through Kenya and Uganda. In the UK we make a great deal of fuss over the strain placed on standard-gauge locomotives on the West Coast Mainline. Shap, Beattock and Drumuachdar are significant climbs which taxed the most powerful of locomotives. The gradients and the heights which the East African lines surmounted dwarf that UK mainline. These feats of endurance and the relative power of the locomotives required to achieve them on narrow-gauge lines is astounding.


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

Two posts remain to complete the story of the line. This is the first of these. It brings the story of the line up to date (to 2018).

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...motives-and-rolling-stock-part-f-1977-to-2018



> In 1977 the East African Railways Corporation (EARC), formerly the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) was broken up. The three countries which made up the East African Community were unable to agree about many things and it became necessary for them to go their own ways. Three railway companies were formed: Kenya Railways Corporation; Uganda Railways Corporation; and Tanzania Railways Corporation. In this post we will focus on the first two of these and on later arrangements with Rift Valley Railways which ended in 2017 when the two Corporations were reformed. At the end of the post, which is essentially about narrow-gauge railways we will highlight developments relating to the new standard-gauge lines which may well dominate the future in Kenya and Uganda.


Very sadly, at least from a heritage perspective, the metre-gauge line and its trains have largely been replaced between Nairobi and Mombasa. No doubt the new trains are infinitely better. But their advent has brought to an end the real sense of adventure that travelling the metre-gauge line from Mombasa to Nairobi evoked!


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

*Metre-Gauge Railways in East Africa - Rolling Stock*

This post provides a short survey of carriages, goods wagons and brake vans/cabooses on the network in Kenya and Uganda from the inception of the Uganda Railway in the 19th Century to through the demise of the East African Railways Corporation in 1977 on to 2018 when this post is being written. The approach is eclectic rather than structured and the post includes some interesting vehicles.

https://rogerfarnworth.wordpress.co...lling-stock-part-e-rolling-stock-1895-to-2018


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

Over Christmas 2018, I have taken some time to look through older Railway Magazines which have been waiting for my attention for months. I have enjoyed looking at copies of The Railway Magazine from 1950 and found a complete copy of an article about the Kenya-Uganda Railway in the April 1950 edition of the magazine.

I thought the full article may be of interest here. Please follow this link:

https://rogerfarnworth.com/2018/12/28/uganda-railways-part-29-the-railway-magazine-1950-april-1950


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

Continuing to read through the 1950 editions of The Railway Magazine, I came across this article in the June issue:

http://rogerfarnworth.com/2019/01/01/uganda-railways-part-30-the-railway-magazine-1950-june-1950


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## rogerfarnworth (Jan 7, 2019)

What recent news is there about the standard gauge railway plans for Uganda?


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## hkskyline (Sep 13, 2002)

*Railway Talks With China Terminated as Uganda Turns to Turkey*
Bloomberg _Excerpt_
Jan 12, 2023

Uganda said it terminated a deal with a Chinese contractor to build a $2.3 billion railroad after it failed to secure Beijing’s financial backing for the project.

The East African nation has been in talks with Yapi Merkezi to take over the development of the project, and expects the Turkish company to submit an expression of interest in weeks, according to Perez Wamburu, Uganda’s project coordinator.

“The contract was terminated, things weren’t working out,” Wamburu said in an interview on Thursday.

It marks an end to more than eight years of Uganda pursuing Chinese funding for the project to build the 273-kilometer (169.63 miles) railway from its border with Kenya to its capital, Kampala, further delaying Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni’s plan to develop a regional transit hub.

Funders had since 2015 remained non-committal to back the plan on concerns it might not be viable if a connection to the Indian Ocean coastline in neighboring Kenya isn’t complete within the same time-frame.

More : Railway Talks With China Terminated as Uganda Turns to Turkey


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