Friends of the Rail Forum

New railway line to link Uganda to Tanzania and South Sudan

By Nicholas Kalungi
Daily Monitor
Posted Wednesday, February 22 2012 at 00:00

IN SUMMARY: High transport. Uganda’s growth is largely constrained by the expensive transport costs to the sea route.

The planned railway line from Tanzania through Uganda to South Sudan is expected to become Uganda’s second direct link to the coastline, the minister of Works and Transport has said.

Eng Abraham Byandala told Daily Monitor that the proposed Tanzania-Uganda-South Sudan railway line will improve Uganda’s international trade transactions as it will be the alternative route to the sea after Mombasa.

“This will help reduce on the problems the country has been going through as a result of entirely relying on Mombasa Port,” Mr Byandala said, adding; “The railway will also be the main transport route for cargo destined for Uganda and South Sudan.”

Recently the governments of Uganda and Tanzania signed a Memorandum of Understanding and set up a substantive ministerial committees consisting of members from the ministry of Finance, EAC Affairs, Transport and the Attorney General to implement the project.

Eng Byandala said the railway will be a link between Tanga and Nimule through Arusha, Musoma, Kampala, Tororo and Gulu.

The construction of this railway is expected to start in the second half of this year and will go on up to 2015 with a $3 billion budget that is to be funded by the governments of Uganda and Tanzania.

Tanzania recently signed a $4.7 billion railway project that will link the country to Rwanda and Burundi.

Uganda’s railway network on the other hand is in shambles with several parts missing sleepers stolen by scrap dealers.

The following appeared in Railways Africa but it's very confusing as it appears to confuse Sudan and South Sudan. I've e-mailed the editor for correction/clarification.

TANGA LINE TO SERVE SUDAN

On February 28, 2012 In Tanzania

Recently the governments of Uganda and Tanzania signed a Memorandum of Understanding and set up a substantive ministerial committees consisting of members from the ministries of finance, EAC affairs, transport and the attorney general to implement the new railway project linking the Tanzanian port of Tanga to Kampala, thence to Nimule (which lies on the border with Southern Sudan). Uganda’s minister of works and transport Abraham Byandala told the Daily Monitor (published in Kampala) that construction is expected to start in the second half of 2012 with a $US3 billion budget funded by the governments of Uganda and Tanzania. He was quoted saying the line is to run from Tanga to Nimule by way of Arusha, Musoma, Kampala, Tororo and Gulu.

According to Byandala, the proposed new railway would be the main transport route for cargo destined for Uganda and South Sudan.

[Earlier reports said the new line from Tanga was to go to Musoma. Cargo would continue by ferry on Lake Victoria to Port Bell in Uganda, from where an existing rail line runs by way of Tororo to Gulu and Pakwach. Tanga-Musoma-Kampala would be a roundabout route if the railway is to be continuous, as implied above. In any event, Uganda’s existing line via Tororo to Gulu is in very poor condition (the Monitor describes it as a “shambles”), requiring complete rebuilding. About 100km of new construction would be needed northwards from Gulu to reach Nimule. The usefulness to Sudan of such a line would depend on heavy new construction being undertaken to link Nimule to the town of Juba (about 150km to the north), – as there is only a very indifferent road – then a further 500km or more to reach the southernmost Sudanese railhead at Wåw. The existing road in this case is shown on the map as nothing more than a “track” – editor, Railways Africa.

THAT TANGA-UGANDA-SUDAN LINE

Railways Africa On March 6, 2012 In Tanzania

The old saying: “always something new out of Africa” is alive and well in Tanzania. Only a week or two ago, Uganda’s Daily Monitor quoted minister of works and transport Abraham Byandala saying that $US3 billion was budgeted by the governments of his country and Tanzania for a new railway to run from the Tanzanian port of Tanga to Nimule (on the Sudanese border) by way of Arusha, Musoma, Kampala, Tororo and Gulu.

Only a week later, Transport World Africa on line quoted The East African giving a figure of $4.7 billion for a new line along the same route. A curious thing about this second version is a statement indicating the new line “will run alongside the $3 billion Tanga-Arusha-Musoma-Kampala railway”. As there is no such line at present (except the metre-gauge, out-of-use Tanga-Arusha portion) this sounds as though $3bn is to be spent on one new line, and a separate $4.7bn on a line running alongside it.

The $4.7bn line, according to The East African, is to be 1,435mm gauge. The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), the paper says, is busy with a feasibility study. It quotes CCECC managing director Wang Xiangdong saying: “We are expecting to hand over the feasibility study by April, while construction of the 880km railway line is expected to be completed by 2015.”

[ We suspect the papers’ journalists have got their lines crossed. Exactly the same figure – $4.7bn – is the latest price-tag for the new Dar es Salaam-Rwanda line which goes nowhere near Tanga, Arusha, Musoma or Kampala. It does run parallel to the existing metre gauge as far as Isaka – and that happens to be 880km from Dar. – editor: Railways Africa ]

Comment added on Railways Africa website by John Ashworth:

Nimule is not on the Sudanese border; it is on the South Sudanese border. Railways Africa appears to be unaware that South Sudan became an independent nation on 9th July 2011!