The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) has temporarily suspended operations along the Kampala to Namanve route to pave the way for the construction of upgraded railway lines.
According to the short notice released by the Uganda Railways Corporation on Tuesday, March 21, 2023, the Kampala-Namanve section will be closed for over six months from April to September 2023, and Namanve-Mukono will be closed for seven months from October 2023 to April 2024.
In the notice, the URC informs that the closers are aimed at paving the way for the construction works on the Kampala to Mukono Meter Gauge Railway (MGR) section to commence.
According to the release, the Uganda Railways Corporation will continue to serve its freight customers via the following routes:
Mukono to Malaba, Portbell to Kampala to Nalukolongo, and Mwanza to Kisumu to Jinja to Port Bell
The URC called upon Ugandans, mostly those who use railway corridors for commercial activities, among others, to be supportive of the construction project, which aims at improving the railway service delivery.
“We call upon the general public, especially people who operate within the railway corridors, to treat this project with the due importance it deserves, as it is aimed at improving railway services.
In February 2015, rift valley railways, in collaboration with KCCA, began testing commuter passenger railway service in Kampala and its suburbs, with a view to establishing regular scheduled service beginning in March 2015.
Those services were temporarily discontinued after RVR lost its concession in Uganda in October 2017.
However, when Uganda Railways Corporation took over the operations of the meter gauge railway system in Uganda in 2018, the service was restored in February of that year, and commuters on the service appreciated the ease and reasonable fares of the rail transport, compared to the commuter taxis, with the attendant traffic jams.