Ugandan bridge collapse

[John Ashworth]

UGANDAN BRIDGE COLLAPSE
Friday, 16 May 2008

Heavy rains that deluged Kampala during the weekend 11-12 May caused flooding, aggravating the 9 May closing of the main railway at Bugembe in the Jinja district. Some 32mm of rain were measured at Entebbe.

“More than 20,000 tonnes of cargo from Mombasa destined for Kampala, the DRC, Southern Sudan, Burundi and Rwanda are held up,” the Daily Monitor (published in Kampala), reported on 14 May.

According to the paper, “the collapse of the small bridge at Budumbuli village in the Bugembe trading centre comes at a time when a section of Ugandans are concerned about the bridge at Owen Falls Dam which is said to have developed cracks. The damaged bridge across the swamps of Lake Victoria in Jinja is said to have developed cracks in the early 1990s and was earmarked for extensive repair which did not take place because the Uganda Railways Corporation lacked funds. A reporter who visited the site was shown “submerged culverts and broken rails”. Rift Valley Railways (RVR) workers were busy removing sleepers to prevent their being stolen.

Urgent representations have been made to the government to put repairs in hand, as train services at a complete standstill will be devastating to the country’s economy, with fuel and basic commodities unable to get through. According to latest reports, repairs will take at least three weeks.

Railways Africa

[John Ashworth]

ALTERNATIVES TO UGANDAN RAILS
Friday, 23 May 2008

Following the closing of the main-line from Kenya to Kampala due to flood damage at Bugembe in Jinja, goods are being transhipped from rail wagons to road trucks at Iganga station.

Rift Valley Railways has diverted as much fuel traffic as possible onto the branch off the main-line to Kisumu on Lake Victoria, from where a hired Tanzanian rail ferry conveys tank wagons to Uganda’s Port Bell. Repairs to the main-line are in hand but are expected to take eight weeks, to make sure that the reconstructed infrastructure is safe.

Renewed interest is evident in the exploiting of the alternative route for Ugandan import and export traffic by way of Dar-es-Salaam in Tanzania.

According to the Monitor (published in Kampala), there is also growing concern over the Jinja Owen Falls bridge that is reportedly cracked, with fears that it might collapse if early remedial measures are not taken.

Railways Africa

TANZANIAN HELP FOR UGANDA
Friday, 23 May 2008

Commenting on the continuing crisis in Uganda following the closing of the railway for two months due to flood damage, Tanzania Railways Limited (TRL) marketing manager Ranjan Banerji told the Monitor (published in Kampala) there is excess capacity available through Dar-es-Salaam. TRL has the capacity to transport cargo to Mombasa through Tanzania, he said. "There are 20 readily available wagons should anyone want to send cargo out
of the country." Banerji quoted a figure of $US54 per tonne.

Railways Africa

[Kevin Wilson-Smith]

I remember when I was vey small child being bemused by the rails in Uganda.

We went somewhere and it was wet (very wet!), and when the trains went through the stations everyone kept jumping off while the train was moving. It did not stop.

The reason was that water was squishing out of the ends of the sleepers as everywhere was flooded, and the consensus seemed to be that is if the train stopped the rail might subside and the train tip over!

A long time ago, and i do not think it was main line. I was about 10 at the time.