Uganda Railways Corporation

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Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is the parastatal railway of Uganda. It was formed after the breakup of the East African Railways Corporation (EARC) in 1977 when it took over the Ugandan part of the East African railways.

URC’s system is rooted in the British colonial metre gauge Uganda Railway that was transformed after World War I into the EARC. Its operation after the demise of the EARC had been hampered by civil war and inefficient management in Uganda. Only the 5 mile, 8 km line between Kampala and Port Bell and the 120 mile main line from Kampala to the Kenyan border at Tororo remain in use.

In 1989, government soldiers massacred sixty civilians at Mukura railway station.

Recently prospects for the URC have improved. Uganda Railways have been joint recipients of the 2001 Worldaware Business Award for "assisting economic and social development through the provision of appropriate, sustainable and environmentally complementary transport infrastructure". The Uganda Railways Update Report gives details of management improvement.

This article or section contains information about scheduled or expected future events. It may contain information of a tentative nature and the content may change dramatically as the event approaches and more information becomes available.

In 2005 Rift Valley Railways Consortium from South Africa was awarded a concession to manage URC fro 25 years together with Kenya Railways^[1] RVRC was scheduled to take over operations on August 1, 2006. On July 28, 2006 the East African Standard reported that the planned take-over was postponed to November 1, 2006.^[2]

[edit] References

1. ^ Background information
2. ^ Postponed Take-over, accessed July 31, 2006

[edit] See also

• Uganda Railway
• Kenya Railways