Railway revamp a brave and timely move for Kenya

Early this month Kenya Railways Corporation took a full page advertisement defending its Railways Master Plan.

Their ambitious and brave decision to radically change the shape of the railway system to the Standard Gauge warrants to be given a chance and supported.

A mega project like this one is destined to make a long term difference in the economic destiny of a number of EAC nations.

It is the brave and ambitious decisions that were made in the seventies to construct the JKIA, the Oil Pipeline, the KICC, the Nyali Bridge and others that sustain the economic growth of today.

Even then not all were in full support of such projects, nor will there be no murmurs on the proposed radical railway design.

The existing railway network under capitalised and run down for so long may be out of tune with the technology and needs of today, and revamping it may not offer intelligent solutions for tomorrow.

However, the plan by the Railway Corporation to initially stop the line at Malaba is short-sighted and ignores the role of the rail line to the emerging EAC.

A business and financial model for the project that does not involve Uganda from the onset may miss some essential success factors.

Due to the heavy capital outlay for the project, it needs a critical mass of tonnage to provide the cash flow needed to finance borrowings.

This inevitably means full integration of Uganda, Rwanda, Southern DRC and Southern Sudan requirements by conversion from road tonnage to rail tonnage.

The justifying vision should be to achieve express block trains from Mombasa to Nairobi and destinations in Uganda with minimum Malaba border transit time.

It can happen because we saw it happen during the old EAC days, when all regional haulage was by rail, and EAC countries were virtually borderless.

The basics of the project justification and design must have faith in a functional future EAC.

The ultimate efficiency and unit costs should be such that road haulage will willingly transfer to rail without requiring regulatory intervention by governments.

However, we should not underestimate the strength of the road transport lobby and vested interests, as these will certainly push back.