Rift Valley Railways, the concessionaire for the Uganda-Kenya railway, hopes to reopen the Tororo-Pakwach route in September once its rehabilitation is completed.

RVR general manager for western region Mark Rumanyika said that at least 60 per cent of the civil works on the line, which has not been in use for the past 18 years, is complete.

“Taking into account the impressive progress made so far by the contractor and our own preparations, we expect the line to resume operations by the first of September,” said Mr Rumanyika.

The rehabilitation works started in November last year.

Mr Rumanyika said repair works on the 500-kilometre line are estimated to cost $2 million, which is money generated from borrowing and RVR’s internal resources.

The site clearance of the entire line is being executed by Kato Engineering, a local firm, under RVR’s supervision.

The reopening of the Tororo- Pakwach railway line is expected to boost commerce between Kenya, Uganda and South Sudan as well as eastern DR Congo, linking such towns as Tororo, Mbale, Kumi, Soroti, Lira, Gulu and Pakwach. Traders will have a direct and cheaper alternative to transport their goods.

Industry players and business leaders in Uganda have welcomed the development.

“For the case of Uganda, railway transport could reduce the cost of transporting goods and services by at least 10-15 per cent given its poor development,” said Roofings Rolling Mills managing director Sikander Lalani, adding that a well developed railway system would bring down transport costs by at least 20-28 per cent compared with road transport.

The new line is expected to open up an alternative route to the Northern Corridor, connecting strategic trade routes with South Sudan, which is now a major trade and investment destination for partner states of the East African Community.

Connecting oil rich areas

In addition, the Pakwach railhead will connect the country’s oil rich areas in the Albertine region and ease the burden on the existing and yet to be constructed transport infrastructure required for developing Uganda’s oil sector. Uganda is anticipating starting commercial oil production of an estimated 3.5 billion barrels by 2017.

So far, RVR has upgraded large sections of the permanent way including the replacement of 50km of railway between Mombasa and Nairobi at a cost of $19 million on the Kenyan side and rehabilitating nine major culverts in Uganda between Busembatia in Tororo and Jinja at a cost of $4.9 million.

READ: RVR to lay out $23m to repair dilapidated tracks

Mr Rumanyika said the company is now concentrating on a turnaround programme, which began last year, focusing mainly on wagon refurbishment, locomotive overhaul and purchases, and railway line improvement.

“As of May 20, 170 wagons had already been refurbished at the Nalukolongo workshop and most are already operational,” said Mr Rumanyika, adding that preparatory work for overhauling eight locomotives has already started and should be complete by June 2014.

A total of 365 wagons are expected to have been refurbished by next year.

RVR is a Kenya-Uganda concessionaire operating freight and passenger rail services in Kenya and Uganda.

It was founded in 2006 and has been granted a 25-year mandate to operate railway services on 2,350 kilometres of track.