Uganda will get railway passenger coaches in October.
The coaches will initially operate between Kampala and Jinja before being extended to the Kenyan border, according to the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) executive chairman, Brown Ondego.
Speaking after a board meeting in Kampala on Friday, Ondego said the programme would start off with two 90-seater coaches currently under refurbishment.
“We will later bring additional three coaches. We can run six to eight coaches between Kampala and Jinja depending on the demand,” he explained.
He noted that the service was not part of the concession mandate.
“We are doing it due to demand and as our corporate responsibility. By the October International Trade Show, we hope we will have something to show,” he stated.
Ondego said the railways sector had turned around and reached a break-even point.
“In May, we made a small profit, though this has to be viewed in the context of filling a large gap created before,” Ondego said.
He agreed with the Government that the concession had failed to deliver on some obligations.
“Last year, we breached the conditions, but we are putting in place infrastructure to increase the train traffic from Mombasa to Kampala up to eight a week. We can even have a daily train from Mombasa to Kampala,” he noted.
Ondego said RVR would immediately invest $5m in the rehabilitation of the railway tracks, locomotives and wagons.
He also cited the repair of bridges and culverts as one of the priority areas.
“There will be two bridges between Tororo and Jinja and four culverts. In eight months, we will have completed the rehabilitation of the line from Malaba to Jinja. The route will carry big locomotives of 1,200 tonnes,” he explained.
“We are also rehabilitating MV Uhuru ship to connect Kisumu to Port Bell and Mwanza. The Gulu-Pakwach line is a much bigger challenge,” he explained.
Ondego said RVR would establish another goods-shed in Mukono.
Christine Sigowa, the western region manager, said the line would be closed for two days for the repair work.
