15 May 2021 : The 260km Malaba-Kampala line rehabilitation is expected to end in less than 12 months.
The signing of the deal seems to further derail Kampala’s plan to have an SGR line from the border to Kampala and possibly to Rwanda, even as it seeks to have faster evacuation of cargo from Mombasa.
In January this year, Kenya began the $35 million rehabilitation of the 460km Longonot to Malaba line, which it expects to be ready by the end of the year. Upon completion of repairs on the old line, it will then link to the SGR at Naivasha. This will enable seamless transport of cargo containers from Mombasa to Kisumu and Malaba border into Uganda.
Already, Kenya Railways is constructing a link line between the Naivasha ICD and the existing Longonot railway station, to ensure this interchange is successfully executed.
The 24.3km link will ensure cargo from the SGR moves to the MGR line at the interchange in Naivasha for onward movement to Kampala.
In May last year, President Museveni argued that increasingly cargo should be shifted from road to the railway, because of its low cost and the high maintenance costs of road network