Posted by With major financial assistance of US$2.7 million coming from the African Development Bank, Tanzania and Rwanda have agreed to construct a 1,435 mm standard gauge railway from Isaka in western Tanzania to Kigali in Rwanda, thereby connecting a 1,200 km rail route between the two countries with the region’s first heavy duty wide gauge line.
The American firm, Burlington Northern Santa Fe Railway, will undertake the five-year 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 as well, according to the US firm.
Pat Hiatte, the general director of corporate communications at Burlington, told APA that his firm will be using the wide standard gauge instead of the narrow meter gauge.
Hiatte said that while narrow gauge rails are cheaper, standard gauge (also known as broad gauge) has a greater haulage capacity and allowed for higher speeds.
“We are advising the two countries on acquisition of locomotives, railway freight cars and related equipment,” he added.
Dates for the construction are yet to be fixed but BNSF said the construction works would involve “grubbing, grading, construction of bridges, embankments and mountain cuts,” followed by the 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.
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 maximize 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.
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 added 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.
Source African Press Agency
[...] is pretty crude. But, Rwanda is making an effort to modernize. They are pursuing opportunities to expand their railroad, highway, and airport infrastructure. In comparison to the US, they lag behind, but they show far [...]