KAMPALA, Uganda – The EAC acknowledges the need to rationalise rail development within the region and to harmonise road and rail transport operations along the main corridors and has therefore, prepared an East African Railways Master Plan to guide the future development of the railway services in the region

Railway transport is the second most important mode of transport after road and critical for long distance freight along the main transport corridors in both Tanzania and Kenya. Tanzania has a total of 3,676 km of railway lines operated by two railway systems, Tanzania Railways Corporation (TRC) and Tanzania – Zambia Railways (TAZARA). Due to poor conditions of tracks and ageing rolling stock and locomotives, tonnage freight volumes and passenger numbers have continued to fall every year (from 60% of port cargo in the 70s and 80s to 7% currently). 
The World Bank and the AfDB have committed funds for the development of the infrastructure. In order to alleviate the problems of the sub- sector, the governmentd have turned to public /private sector partnership (PPP) while retaining public ownership of the infrastructure and regulation. Kenya has a rail network of 2,778 km of lines. The mainline connects the Mombasa port to Nairobi and to the Kenya / Uganda border at Malaba. The network carried 4.5 million tons of freight per year in the early 1980s but declined to 2.0 million in 2005.  Passenger traffic however has been increasing steadily from 1.8 million in 1971 to 4.8 million. Even though the freight performance has continued to decline, it still plays a critical role in the transport.

Source: East African Business Week

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