A ballast regulator aligner in operation in Mombasa after its commissioning by Rift Valley Railways on July 15, 2014. LABAN WALLOGA
What you need to know:
Rift Valley Railways has introduced track maintenance machinery worth about Sh200 million.
Equipment comprises a ballast profiler and a tamping machine to be used in rehabilitation.
RVR says repairs will cut cargo transit times between Mombasa and the Ugandan capital by 16 hours.
Rift Valley Railways (RVR) has introduced track maintenance machinery to speed up ongoing rehabilitation work on 366km of the century-old 1,330km line linking Mombasa and Kampala.
The move, according to RVR Group chief executive Darlan De David, will help cut cargo transit times between the port city and the Ugandan capital by 16 hours. Currently, block train operations move goods in as little as four to five days via the Malaba route although the average time remains at seven to nine days.
The new equipment, which cost about Sh200 million, comprises a ballast profiler and a tamping machine which distribute and pack aggregate while correcting the alignment of the tracks.
Previously this was done manually, with workers covering about 40 metres of track an hour. The new machines can cover a kilometre in the same period and will hasten track restoration.
Since January 2012, RVR has only rehabilitated 73km of railway track between Mombasa and Nairobi. The firm says that this, along with installation of GPS-based train operating technology on all trains, has helped cut cargo transit times between the two cities by six hours. Faster rehabilitation of the rest of the track is key to improving performance for the much-criticised railway concessionaire.
Speaking during the commissioning of the new equipment at Miritini in Mombasa on Tuesday, Mr De David said that RVR had spent over Sh10 billion on line rehabilitation since January 2012.
RVR recently drew the last Sh6 billion of a Sh14 billion ($164 million) debt facility that it raised in 2011 to fund a five-year turnaround programme. The money will be used to sustain investments in technology, cargo-carrying capacity and infrastructure, including line rehabilitation.
The debt was part of a $287 million (Sh25 billion) capital financing package provided as a series of loans comprising $40m from the African Development Bank (AfDB), $32m from Germany’s KfW Bankengruppe and $22m from the International Finance Corporation (IFC).
The package also includes $20m from Dutch development bank FMO, $20m from the ICF Debt Pool and $10m from the Belgian Investment Company for Developing Countries (BIO). From the private sector, Kenya’s Equity Bank provided a loan of $20m.
“The funding provided by these financial institutions has been key to turning around the fortunes of Rift Valley Railways,” said Karim Sadek, managing director of Qalaa Holdings (formerly Citadel Capital), which owns 85 per cent of RVR.
“Total capex spending this year will exceed $100 million (Sh8.7 billion), some of which will be used to add 1,400 wagons to the existing fleet.”
De David said: “We have so far invested $120 million in revitalising the railway, surpassing the investment requirement threefold only midway through the investment period.”
Recently, the firm that distributes Shell branded fuels and lubricants in Kenya announced plans to double the amount of fuel it transports by rail. Vivo Energy Kenya said it had placed orders for 55 additional wagons and plans to move more of their diesel by rail from Mombasa to Nairobi. The firm currently transports four million tonnes of diesel to Nairobi and Uganda.
The move was seen as a vote of confidence for RVR’s ongoing efforts to bring back into service some 255 disused fuel-ferrying tanks and target business from major oil transporters in the region.
RVR says Vivo is just one of the freight clients taking advantage of recent investment in revitalising the Kenya-Uganda railway system. The firm says it has signed new contracts with companies in the steel, oil and bulk grain businesses amid improved speed, reliability and safety records.
Darlan said the region’s transport sector will experience a significant reprieve on cargo haulage this year once RVR augments its locomotive fleet with the additional 30 trains it is acquiring.
“We procured and will soon be receiving 20 of these General Electric locomotives from the US,” he said. “We are rehabilitating the rest in our workshops locally.”
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