The history of rail transport in Burundi is limited to a now closed industrial railway, and a number of proposed railway projects that, as of 2012 [update] , had not been implemented.
From 1947 to 1982, there was a 600 mm (1 ft 11+5⁄8 in) narrow gauge industrial railway within the boundaries of the Port of Bujumbura on Lake Tanganyika. The railway carried only goods traffic. Its operator was Office Congolais des Chemins des fer des Grands Lacs (CFL). [1]
Since around the turn of the 21st century, there have been several proposals for a railway between Burundi and nearby countries. The existing railway networks in nearby Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania use 1,000 mm (3 ft 3+3⁄8 in) metre gauge, although TAZARA and other nearby countries, including the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) use the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) gauge leading to some potential difficulties.
As early as the 1980s, the Kagera Basin Organization carried out economic feasibility studies into a would-be KBO railway system linking Burundi, Rwanda and the (DRC), but that proposed system never came to fruition. [2]
In 2000, the Common Market for Eastern and Southern Africa (COMESA) launched the Great Lakes railway project involving both rail and water transport on Lakes Tanganyika, Kivu, and Edward connecting Burundi, the DRC, Rwanda, Uganda, and Zambia. The aim of that project was to improve connections between the Great Lakes and the southern African 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) rail network. [2] [3] As with the would-be KBO railway system, the COMESA proposal was not implemented.[ citation needed ]
By 2004, the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority, based in Mombasa, Kenya, was promoting a project to link Kisangani with Mombasa using a new line from Kasese to Kisangani, with feeder lines linking Kasese with Goma and then via Bukavu to Kigali and Bujumbura. [2] [3]
At a meeting in August 2006 with members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, Chinese diplomat Wu Guanzheng confirmed the intention of the People's Republic of China to fund a study into the feasibility of constructing a railway connecting at Isaka with the existing metre gauge Tanzanian railway network, and running via Kigali in Rwanda through to Burundi. [4]
In January 2022, the governments of Burundi and Tanzania announced the planned construction of an electrified standard gauge railway, which will link the two countries. [5] The line is known as the Tanzania–Burundi Standard Gauge Railway.
There are a number of systems of transport in Burundi, including road and water-based infrastructure, the latter of which makes use of Lake Tanganyika. Furthermore, there are also some airports in Burundi.
Ground transport in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has always been difficult. The terrain and climate of the Congo Basin present serious barriers to road and rail construction, and the distances are enormous across this vast country. Furthermore, chronic economic mismanagement and internal conflict has led to serious under-investment over many years.
Transport in Kenya refers to the transportation structure in Kenya. The country has an extensive network of paved and unpaved roads.
Transport in Tanzania includes road, rail, air and maritime networks. The road network is 86,472 kilometres (53,731 mi) long, of which 12,786 kilometres (7,945 mi) is classified as trunk road and 21,105 kilometres (13,114 mi) as regional road. The rail network consists of 3,682 kilometres (2,288 mi) of track. Commuter rail service is in Dar es Salaam only. There are 28 airports, with Julius Nyerere International being the largest and the busiest. Ferries connect Mainland Tanzania with the islands of Zanzibar. Several other ferries are active on the countries' rivers and lakes.
Transport in Uganda refers to the transportation structure in Uganda. The country has an extensive network of paved and unpaved roads.
The Cape to Cairo Railway was an unfinished project to create a railway line crossing from southern to northern Africa. It would have been the largest, and most important, railway of the continent. It was planned as a link between Cape Town in South Africa and Port Said in Egypt.
The Central Line, formerly known as the Tanganyika Railway is the most important railway line in Tanzania, apart from TAZARA. It runs west from Dar es Salaam to Kigoma on Lake Tanganyika via Dodoma. Extensions of the central route branch to the cities of Mwanza on Lake Victoria, Tanga, Singida and Mpanda.
Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), also Kenya Railways (KR) is the national railway of Kenya. Established in 1977, KR is a state corporation.
Rail transport in Tanzania is conducted by two companies. It has historically used narrow gauge trackage, but planning and construction of new standard gauge lines is underway as of 2017.
The Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA) is an intergovernmental body, encompassing six countries in Eastern Africa, tasked with the job of coordinating transport infrastructure improvements.
Rail transport is provided in the Democratic Republic of the Congo by the Société Nationale des Chemins de Fer du Congo (SNCC), the Société commerciale des transports et des ports (SCTP) (previously Office National des Transports until 2011), and the Office des Chemins de fer des Ueles (CFU).
The Lagos–Mombasa Highway or TAH 8 is Trans-African Highway 8 and is the principal road route between West and East Africa. It has a length of 6,259 km (3,889 mi) and is contiguous with the Dakar-Lagos Highway with which it will form the longest east-west crossing of the continent for a total distance of 10,269 km (6,381 mi). Its main importance at the moment is connecting West Africa with Southern Africa via Yaoundé and Gabon because the section through the Democratic Republic of the Congo is unpaved and difficult.
There are several planned railway lines in Rwanda, including a line to Tanzania. Historical railways are limited to three industrial railways.
Railway stations in Tanzania include:
The East African Railway Master Plan is a proposal for rejuvenating the railways serving Tanzania, Kenya, and Uganda, and building new railways to serve Rwanda and Burundi. The objective is to further the economic development of East Africa by increasing the efficiency and speed, and lowering the cost, of transporting cargo between major ports on the Indian Ocean coast and the interior.
South Sudan does not have an extensive rail system. The current rail infrastructure, which was constructed between 1959–1962, and was left over from the previous Sudan government, is in a serious state of disrepair. It consists of a 248 kilometers (154 mi) narrow-gauge, single-track line that connects Babonosa (Sudan) with the city of Wau in South Sudan. The line was left in poor condition after the Second Sudanese Civil War after several parts of it were mined; the line was fully rehabilitated with United Nations funds.
The Isaka–Kigali Standard Gauge Railway is a planned railway line linking the town of Isaka in Tanzania to the city of Kigali in Rwanda.
The Kenya Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a partially finished railway system connecting Kenya's cities. Once completed, it will link the country to the neighboring country of Uganda, and through Uganda, to South Sudan, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Rwanda, and Burundi. There are also plans to link to Addis Ababa, in neighboring Ethiopia to the north. The first segment, between Mombasa and Nairobi, opened passenger rail service in June 2017, and freight rail service in January 2018. Other segments are under construction or planned. The new standard gauge railway, is intended to replace the old, inefficient metre-gauge railway system.
The Rwanda Standard Gauge Railway is a standard gauge railway (SGR) system, under development, linking the country to the neighboring countries of Tanzania and Uganda. It is intended to ease the transfer of goods between the Indian Ocean ports of Dar es Salaam and Mombasa, and the Rwandan capital Kigali. The system is expected to link, in the future, to Rwanda's two other neighbors, Burundi and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as part of the East African Railway Master Plan. With no previously existing railway network, Rwanda is developing its railway system from scratch. The project is dependent on the construction of the Tanzanian and Ugandan SGR lines to the Rwandan border, which have not been completed as of October 2023.
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