Rail transport in Kenya consists of a metre-gauge network and a new standard-gauge railway (SGR). Both railways connect Kenya's main port city of Mombasa to the interior, running through the national capital of Nairobi. The metre-gauge network runs to the Ugandan border, and the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway, financed by a Chinese loan, reaches Suswa.
The loading gauge for new standard gauge railways in Africa is width: 3,400 mm (11 ft 2 in) the same as the original Shinkansen in Japan; also Korea and China. Allows for 2+3 seating.
platform train gap:
platform height:
carriage floor height:
Passenger service between Mombasa and Nairobi is available on the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway. A metre-gauge commuter train connects the new SGR Nairobi Terminus to the old station in Nairobi city center.
The Uganda Railway was originally built by the British to provide Uganda with access to the sea. Construction began at Mombasa in 1896 and reached Lake Victoria in 1901. The line was in part nicknamed the Lunatic Line after Henry Labouchère, a member of the British parliament, gave a mocking reply to the current British Foreign Minister support for the project in the form of a poem:
What it will cost no words can express,
What is its object no brain can suppose,
Where it will start from no one can guess,
Where it is going to nobody knows,
What is the use of it none can conjecture,
What it will carry there’s none can define,
And in spite of George Curzon’s superior lecture,
It clearly is naught but a lunatic line. [2]
And partly because of the difficulties encountered during its construction, including man-eating lions that ate about 30 workers before they were finally hunted down and flesh eating maggots. In 1929, the Uganda Railway was merged into Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours, which was then merged into East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) in 1948. EAR&H operated transportation links for Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania until the East African Community was dissolved. Kenya's portion of the railway became the Kenya Railways Corporation. Over the next 30 years, Kenya's railway network deteriorated from a lack of maintenance. By 2017, only half of Kenya's metre-gauge railways remained in operation. [3]
In November 2006, the Rift Valley Railways Consortium took over the operation of railways in Kenya and Uganda under a 25-year concession. [4] However, RVR was unable to turnaround railway operations, hampered by corrupt management and aging infrastructure. In 2017, the World Bank found that a $22 million loan extended for the purchase of refurbished locomotives had been diverted into a shell company controlled by RVR executives. [5] The Uganda Railways Corporation issued a notice of default to RVR in 2016, [6] and the Kenya Railways Corporation terminated the concession in April 2017. [7]
In 2011, Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Road and Bridge Corporation to build the Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). Financing for the US$3.6 billion project was finalised in May 2014, with the Exim Bank of China extending a loan for 90% of the project cost, and the remaining 10% coming from the Kenyan government. [8] Passenger service on the SGR was inaugurated on 31 May 2017. [9] Work to extend the SGR to Suswa is complete. [10]
Transport in Uganda refers to the transportation structure in Uganda. The country has an extensive network of paved and unpaved roads.
The Uganda Railway was a metre-gauge railway system and former British state-owned railway company. The line linked the interiors of Uganda and Kenya with the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa in Kenya. After a series of mergers and splits, the line is now in the hands of the Kenya Railways Corporation and the Uganda Railways Corporation.
The East African Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H) is a defunct company that operated railways and harbours in East Africa from 1948 to 1977. It was formed in 1948 for the new East African High Commission by merging the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours with the Tanganyika Railway of the Tanganyika Territory. As well as running railways and harbours in the three territories it ran inland shipping services on Lake Victoria, Lake Kyoga, Lake Albert, the Victoria Nile and the Albert Nile.
Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC), also Kenya Railways (KR) is the national railway of Kenya. Established in 1977, KR is a state corporation.
The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is the parastatal railway of Uganda. It was formed after the breakup of the East African Railways Corporation (EARC) in 1977 when it took over the Ugandan part of the East African railways.
Rift Valley Railways (RVR) was a consortium established to manage the parastatal railways of Kenya and Uganda. The consortium won the bid for private management of the century-old Uganda Railway in 2005. The Kenya-Uganda railway had previously been run by the East African Railways and Harbours Corporation over the period 1948–77. In 2014, RVR moved 1,334 million net tonne kilometers of rail freight, up from 1,185 million net tonne kilometers the previous year. Both Kenya and Uganda terminated their contracts with RVR in mid-2017, with control of their national rail networks reverting to the Kenya Railways Corporation and the Uganda Railways Corporation, respectively.
The EAR 59 class was a class of oil-fired 1,000 mm gauge Garratt-type articulated steam locomotives. The 34 members of the class were built by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Manchester, England, for the East African Railways (EAR). They entered service in 1955–56, and were the largest, heaviest and most powerful steam locomotives to operate on any metre gauge railway in the world.
The KUR EC3 class, later known as the EAR 57 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-4+4-8-4 Garratt-type articulated steam locomotives. The twelve members of the class were built by Beyer, Peacock & Co. in Manchester, England, for the Kenya-Uganda Railway (KUR). They entered service between 1939 and 1941, and were later operated by the KUR's successor, the East African Railways (EAR).
The EAR 29 class was a class of oil-burning 1,000 mm gauge 2-8-2 steam locomotives based upon the Nigerian Railways River class. Thirty-one were built for the East African Railways (EAR), in two batches, of 20 and 11, respectively, by North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, Scotland. They were built to be gauge convertible to 1,067 mm gauge.
The EAR 31 class was a class of oil-burning 1,000 mm gauge 2-8-4 steam locomotives. The 46 members of the class were built in 1955 by Vulcan Foundry, in Newton-le-Willows, Lancashire, England, for the East African Railways (EAR). They were a lighter, branch-line version of the EAR 30 class, and worked from various sheds throughout the EAR system.
The KUR ED1 class was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 2-6-2T steam locomotives built for the Kenya-Uganda Railway (KUR). The 27 members of the ED1 class entered service on the KUR between 1926 and 1930. They were later operated by the KUR's successor, the East African Railways (EAR), and reclassified as part of the EAR 11 class.
The UR G class, known later as the UR / KUR GA class, and later still as the KUR EB class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-0 steam locomotives built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in Patricroft, Salford, England, for the Uganda Railway (UR).
The UR GB class, known later as the UR / KUR EB1 class, and later still as part of the EAR 22 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-0 steam locomotives built by North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, Scotland, for the Uganda Railway (UR). Its design of GB was based upon that of the earlier UR G class.
The UR GC class, later known as the UR / KUR EB2 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-0 steam locomotives built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in Patricroft, Salford, England, for the Uganda Railway (UR). Its design was very similar to that of the earlier UR G class and UR GB class, save that the two members of the GC class were equipped with piston valves and a Robinson superheater.
The UR GD class, known later as the UR / KUR EB3 class, and later still as the EAR 24 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-0 steam locomotives built for the Uganda Railway (UR). It was a larger and modified version of the earlier, experimental, UR GC class.
The EAR 13 class was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 4-8-2T steam locomotives built by North British Locomotive Company in Glasgow, Scotland, for the East African Railways (EAR).
The UR MS class, known later as the KUR MS class, later still as the KUR EE class, and finally as the EAR 10 class, was a class of 1,000 mm gauge 2-6-4T steam locomotives built by Nasmyth, Wilson and Company in Patricroft, Salford, England, for the Uganda Railway (UR).
The Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway is a standard-gauge railway (SGR) in Kenya that connects the large Indian Ocean city of Mombasa with Nairobi, the country's capital and largest city. This SGR runs parallel to the narrow-gauge Uganda Railway that was completed in 1901 under British colonial rule. The East African Railway Master Plan provides for the Mombasa–Nairobi SGR to link with other SGRs being built in the East African Community.
The Nairobi–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a standard-gauge railway that connects Kenya's capital city of Nairobi to Malaba, at the international border with Uganda. The Nairobi–Malaba SGR is expected to connect to other standard gauge railways in Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan and eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo, under the East African Railway Master Plan.
The Kenya Standard Gauge Railway is a railway system that will connect Kenyan cities, and 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 (SGR), is intended to replace the old, inefficient metre-gauge railway system.
Media related to Rail transport in Kenya at Wikimedia Commons