RIFT Valley Railways, the operator of the Kenya-Uganda railway line, has placed an order for 120 additional wagons at a cost of Sh665.76 million ($6.36 million), it announced yesterday.
The firm, owned 85 per cent by Qalaa Holdings of Egypt, said the wagons bought from China CNR Corporation will be delivered in November. The new wagons have a capacity of 60 tonnes each, 20 tonnes more than the present fleet.
RVR general manager for concession and external communications Sammy Gachuhi said the fleet was part of a wider plan to add 400 wagons under the Sh30.04 billion ($287 million) capital expenditure programme from January 2012.
The firm, he said, has spent Sh13.19 billion ($126 million) in modern rail operating technology, rebuilding infrastructure and expanding haulage capacity.
“Rising freight volumes, declining incidents and less blockage time are a testament to the success of the range of measures so-far implemented under the turnaround programme,” Gachuhi said during East and Central Africa Rail and Road Infrastructure Summit in Nairobi.
RVR in August landed a deal to operate and manage the Inland Container Depot in Uganda. It will use the contract to cash in on cargo business from the port of Mombasa to other regions in the land-locked country, beyond capital Kampala.
Last year, the firm acquired 20 locomotives at a cost of Sh2.2 billion from the US.
RVR said it also completed the rehabilitation of the most damaged sections of the railway track between Mombasa and Nairobi, and rehabilitated and reopened the 500 km railway from Tororo to Gulu in northern Uganda after a 20-year hiatus.
Source: The Star

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