Rwanda/Tanzania: East Africa’s first wide gauge railway line to be built
Posted by africanpress on March 20, 2008
Tanzania and Rwanda are to construct a 1,435mm standard gauge railway from Isaka to Kigali, thereby connecting the countries with the region’s first heavy duty wide gauge line.
American firm Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway will undertake the construction of the railway line, which is expected to speed up movement of cargo from Tanzania to Rwanda. The line will be able to tolerate heavy cargo. Pat Hiatte, general director, corporate communications at Burlington told The EastAfrican that his firm will be using the wide standard gauge instead of the narrow metre gauge. Mr Hiatte said that while narrow gauge rails are cheaper, standard gauge or broad gauge have a greater haulage capacity and allow higher speeds.
“We are advising the two countries on acquisition of locomotives, railway freight cars and related equipment,” he said. Dates for the construction are yet to be fixed but BNSF says the construction works will involve “grubbing, grading, construction of bridges, embankments and mountain cuts,” followed by laying of the 1,435 mm wide track. Since the terrain is semi-mountainous, some portions of the line will pass through tunnels. The rail project will be complemented by the rehabilitation of the Dar es Salaam-Isaka line, which is narrower at 1,000 mm.
The American firm is still evaluating the tonnage potential of the route and compiling training package for operators. Isaka, a dry port for receiving Rwandan transit goods, will become a rail terminus where the Isaka-Kigali and Dar es Salaam-Isaka lines, with their different gauges, will be integrated. The American firm has also recommended the expansion of the Dar es Salaam port to maximise its use for Rwandan imports and exports.
The viability of the Isaka-Kigali railway link was established in a study conducted in 1913 by German colonial authorities. The study identified a “feasible engineering route between Isaka and Kigali. The African Development Bank sponsored another feasibility study, which was completed last year and which gave similar results. Mr Hiatte said the railway engineering design standards suggested for the development of the new railway are “world class” and will provide for the development of a standard gauge heavy tonnage railway.
The success of the Isaka-Kigali line, according to the company, will be determined by several factors. These are the state of co-operation between the governments of Rwanda and Tanzania, the ability to attract freight traffic and the ability of the port of Dar es Salaam to handle the tonnage. The Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority (Tazara) has also adopted a wider gauge of 1,067 mm to match that of Zambia Railways.
The East African region is however predominantly a narrow gauge zone. Like Hong Kong’s Kowloon-Canton Railway Corporation, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda and are mainly served by 1,000 mm gauge rail lines.
The gauge is the distance between the two rails of a railroad. Some 60 per cent of the world’s railways are already standard gauge, also called international gauge. It is expected that the project will take at least five years to complete. It will cost $2.7 million, with AfDB being the chief financier. A complementary 480 km Isaka-Lusahunga tarmac road is already in place.
The BNSF Railway is among the top transporters of intermodal traffic in North America, and moves more grain than any other American railroad.
It also hauls enough coal to generate roughly 10 per cent of the electricity produced in the United States of America.
Published by Korir, API africanpress@getmail.no source.EastAfrican.KE
