After several years of de-prioritization and absence from Uganda’s transport mix, the railway is slowly snaking its way back to the country’s mobility agenda. Both the old Metre Gauge Railway (MGR) and the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) are back on the cards, after decades of government’s focus and heavy investment on roads.
In a refreshing turn, for the first time in many years, President Museveni elaborately spoke about the country’s efforts to revive the railway – during the 2024 national Independence Day celebrations that took place in the Eastern district of Busia. For decades, it had become trademark for him at every speech, to dwell on roads and the road network (always naming roads in remote places of the country by name). In what marks the turn for the railways, he heralded the government’s plans to renovate the old MGR and to start construction of the new SGR.
On October 14, the Ministry of Works & Transport signed the agreement that handed the construction of the country’s first SGR to the Turkish firm Yapi Merkezi.
The Turkish railway contractors celebrated the award of the Malaba-Kampala Eastern Route Railway Project, that they had been handed. Valued at approximately US$3 billion (UGX10 trillion) it was their “major success abroad” and “one of the largest projects ever signed by Turkish contractors abroad…” for which they promised to make Turkey proud.
They said the works “…encompasses the design, construction, and procurement of rail vehicles for a standard gauge railway that will be fully electrified according to European and American standards. The 273 km long project has a design speed of 120 km/h and includes two major stations, four medium stations, one marshaling yard, and three freight terminals. This project, which will connect Uganda with Kenya, has a freight capacity of 25 million tons per year.”
Over the last two financial years, government mentions of the railway in its budget papers have gone up; some money has been planned and renovations works on the MGR are afoot.
Reading the National Budget 2024/25 in mid-June, Matia Kasaija, the Minister of Finance, Planning & Economic Development, reported that in the year 2023/24, government acquired a 161-km corridor for the SGR between Tororo and Mayuge districts. He also said that rehabilitation works for the Tororo-Gulu MGR stood at 28 percent completion and that emergency refurbishment and rehabilitation of the Malaba-Kampala-Namanve MGR has been completed.
For the financial year 2024/5, UGX 4.98trillion has been provided for roads and railways. In a clear shift, the government said works on roads will be limited to rehabilitation of the existing network. A sizable chunk of this money will therefore go to the repair of the MGR and construction of the SGR.
In April at the World Bank and Government of Kenya co-sponsored Summit of African Heads of State and the Government of Kenya, in Nairobi, where Museveni gave a keynote speech, he made a passionate case for reviving and investing in the railways, if African countries are to develop.
He said if the World Bank (and other development partners) genuinely want to support Africa’s development, one of the core places to put their money is developing the railways systems. (His other priority areas being energy, irrigation and bringing rural populations to the market economy).
He vehemently argued that for Africa to develop, it needs a socio-economic transformation philosophy rather than a sustainable development one. And a good railway network is at the centre of this economic transformation – involving industrialization, manufacturing, processing, and exports.
After spending nearly two decades and billions of dollars on the roads as the priority transport, the government now seems to turn its sights on the railways because the cost of transport genie has refused to go away.
Battered from botched privatization
Uganda’s railway network and service was one of the biggest victims of government’s divestiture and privatization policies of 25 years ago. The country’s railway suffered massive degeneration following botched privatization attempts. In 2005, the Government concessioned the railway to South African Rift Valley Railways (RVR) for 25 years.
The concession gave RVR the mandate to operate the entire 1,266km railway network in the country. However, poor management and low investment by the concessionaire led to a massive deterioration of the line and huge losses to the government accumulated. By the time the government took back management of the Corporation in 2018, it had losses of close to UGX 3.7 trillion (about US$100 million) on its head.
Evelyn Anite, the Minister of State for Investment, said the country suffered an estimated Shs2.824trillion loss in damaged assets during the reign of the RVR. The unattended track led to vandalism of the sleepers, fittings, loop lines and rails. The locomotives also deteriorated, requiring rehabilitation.
On his part, Works Minister, Gen. Edward Katumba Wamala indicated the cost was even higher. He told journalists at the Government Media Centre that vandalism of railway materials had moved from stealing railway sleepers to cutting the main line. He said the government lost approximately US$1b (UGX3.7trillion) worth of railway materials to vandals.
Plans for revival
In 2018, Eng. Charles Kateeba, then managing director of the revived URC told The Infrastructure Magazine that since management of the railway network reverted to the government, Uganda Railways Corporation developed a strategic plan to rehabilitate and purchase key components of the railway network, to restart itself.
Eng. Kateeba said revival of the railway offered a feasible solution to traders with bulk cargo in and out of the country, as it is known to be an affordable, safe and reliable means of transport.
Rehabilitation of the Tororo- Gulu Metre Gauge Line
In April 2023, the government signed a UGX199.9b contract with the Chinese Road and Bridge Corporation for the rehabilitation of the 375 km Tororo – Gulu MGR.
This section of the old railways network traverses mainly the eastern part of the country originating in Tororo snaking through the districts of Mbale, Bukedea, Kumi, Ngora, Soroti, Dokolo, Lira before terminating in Gulu – now at the newly constructed logistics hub. It then proceeds onwards to Pakwach in West Nile and Nimule, at the border with South Sudan.
This is arguably the first biggest investment that the government has made on this line in the last 35 years. Once a vibrant railway operation that served as the main commercial link between northern, east and southern parts of the country, the railway line went into disuse and desolation both for security and poor investment reasons.
Civil strife in Teso and Northern Uganda ( (between the late 1980s and early 2000s )led to complete abandonment of the railway line. Uganda had about 1,244 kilometres of rail. Of that, only about 200km remained somehow functional.
Estimated to take two years, the rehabilitation works, according to Uganda Railways Corporation (URC), are fully funded by the Government of Uganda as part of its efforts to “increase the stock and quality of strategic infrastructure to accelerate Uganda’s competitiveness and creating the integrated transport infrastructure and services in the country.”
The Corporation said works to be undertaken under the current rehabilitation contract with the Chinese firm include improvement of drainage along the lines, construction of new culverts, lining of side drains, earthworks, relocation of utilities, rehabilitation of five steel girder bridges, railway track relaying works (including ballasting), new railway track materials, refurbishment of existing railway track, construction of level crossings including signage (concrete and gravel).
“With these improvements, we anticipate transporting a minimum of 500,000 metric tonnes of cargo during 2025/26 alone and this will be a great relief to our roads. The works will also reduce the cost of transportation of cargo from Malaba to Gulu and surrounding districts, “URC said in a statement.
Waiswa Bageya, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Works &Transport, told The Infrastructure Magazine that once completed, the railway line will feed into the Gulu Logistics Hub which was constructed to serve as a collection centre for cargo destined for northern Uganda, South Sudan, northern Democratic Republic of Congo, and vice versa.
Bageya said that the ongoing rehabilitation is a continuation of government efforts to rehabilitate the entire northern corridor of the line.
According to Bageya, the president is very emphatic on the railway line due to the economic benefits it will bring like reducing the cost of doing business.
John Linonn Ssengendo, the Uganda Railways Corporation Public Relations Officer told The Infrastructure Magazine that progress on the works of the 375km stretch from Tororo to Gulu stood at 30 percent.
He added that the works will see the old MGR line transform from the “iron snake” (use of the iron sleepers) to a concrete snake (concrete sleepers).
“In the end, the cost of maintenance reduces. The concrete sleepers are very stable and can’t be vandalized. The trains will be able to move at a speed of 80 to 100km per hour on the concrete sleepers,” Sengendo said.
Gulu Logistics Hub
The Gulu Logistics Hub is designed as a dry port with both rail and truck terminals. It is designed to facilitate transportation, collection, separation, consolidation, and distribution of goods for national and international transit on a commercial basis in northern Uganda, South Sudan and north eastern DR Congo.
Beyond business, it will also chaperon logistics support to humanitarian interventions in South Sudan and beyond and support work of humanitarian agencies that support refugees in West Nile region.
The hub has warehouses, container terminals and general lifting equipment. It is designed to offer handling and storage services, space for stakeholders dealing with freight transport; freight forwarders, shippers and transport operators and accompanying services such as customs inspections, tax payment, maintenance and repair, banking and information communication technology.
The facility was constructed under the European Union’s Development Initiative for Northern Uganda (DINU) in partnership with Trademark East Africa (TMEA) a donor-funded facility to promote trade among in African states, with US$8.6 million funding from the UK’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Officer (FCDO) and the European Union.
The hub is a key installation that will link and support the railway line functionality in northern Uganda.
Tororo – Mukono line
In 2022, Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) contracted China Road and Bridge Corporation to undertake emergency works on the rehabilitation of the Tororo – Mukono section. The project cost US$51.8 Million with a duration of 16 months.
The line rehabilitated under this project included the Mukono – Tororo line, Jinja Pier Line including reinstatement of the pier yard (3.7 Km) for a total track length of 234 Km that includes the crossing lines (8.3 Km). This reinstatement, Sengendo said, was completed in 2023.
The Kampala-Malaba MGR is part of the multi-modal Northern Corridor route, which includes road transport from Mombasa in Kenya to landlocked Uganda and neighbouring countries – Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and Eastern DR Congo. The corridor also has maritime links with Lake Victoria’s inland waterways.
Mukono- Kampala
This section was contracted out to Spanish Company, Imathia Construccion to replace the iron with concrete sleepers from Kampala – Mukono. These works are expected to improve railway transport, especially for passengers on the line.
These works were completed leading to the recent relaunch of passenger train service from Kampala to Mukono. The project is expected to yield a more stable track that supports increased train operating speeds, passenger comfort, efficient and effective freight and passenger transportation services offered by Uganda Railways.
Kampala- Kasese line
Ssengendo said as they look to completing renovation of the eastern leg of the railway lines, their sights are also set on the western leg. He said so far, Uganda Railways is ready to undertake works from Kampala to Kyengera.
“On the Meter Gauge Railway, we want to go from Kampala to Kyengera,” he said, using the UGX1.12 trillion loan from the African Development Bank (ADB).
The works here will also involve overhauling the Meter Guage Railway and incorporates training and skills development for the railway workforce. It also will integrate nature-based solutions, including tree planting, to enhance the climate resilience of the tracks.
Bringing cargo transportation costs down
Transport costs on the Northern Corridor remain comparatively high, ranging from 20 to 25 cents per tonne per kilometre for road transport, while rail transport costs range from 6 to 12 US cents per tonne per kilometre, depending on the cargo type.
With the ongoing development of the railway line, Uganda will save costs for road maintenance since goods will be moved by train and movement of the tracks will lead to reduced road damage.
Uganda Railways, according to its publicist, is aiming to shift Uganda’s incoming and outgoing cargo from the road to the railway, targeting a transportation volume of six million tonnes per year.
Globally, rail is a safer and more affordable mode of transport compared to road, but currently, more than 90 per cent of cargo along the Northern Corridor is carried by road, with a mere 7 per cent moving by rail largely because of poor rail infrastructure. As a result, transport costs along the Corridor are comparatively high.
The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR)
The development of the MGR is expected to be linked to the SGR when it is completed. Stations on the MGR will feed into the SGR.
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