Category: Railways
China and Zimbabwe Have Negotiated for Years to Modernize Zim’s Decrepit Railway. Now It’s Time to Get Something Done.
Zimbabwean Filmmaker Zororo Makamba breaks down in easy-to-understand terms how the country's rail network has fallen into such a state of disrepair, despite years of efforts to revitalize it. Makamba argues that it's critical that the government work with Chinese and other partners to find a way to ...
Protesting Truck Drivers in Nairobi Link Government’s Order to Transport All Cargo on SGR With “China Colonization”
Kenyan truck drivers took to the streets yesterday to protest against the government's directive that requires all-cargo to be transported by the new Standard Gauge Railway. Contrary to some of the previous demonstrations, the truckers this time clearly linked the government's decision to Chinese influence, or "colonization" ...
Without the Chinese, Uganda is Going to Find Out if Anyone Else Wants to Loan Them Money to Refurbish a Railway
After failing to secure a $2.2 billion loan from the Chinese to build a new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to replace the country's decrepit century-old colonial-era railway, Uganda is now looking to secure funding for a much more modest refurbishment of its 1,266km system. ...
Kenya’s Newest SGR Line is Up and Running But Bad Roads Means No One Can Actually Get to the Stations
Two days after the high-profile launch of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway line between Nairobi and Naivasha, the trains are running largely empty as very few passengers can actually get to the stations due to the poor condition of the roads. Nearby ...
Tweet of the Day: Kenyan Truckers Claim SGR is Too Costly, But That’s Shortsighted Says Expert
Dr. Zhengli Huang is a Research Associate in the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at the University of Sheffield. She's an expert on China's impact on African urban development and has experience in ...
New SGR Railway Gets Mixed Reviews on Kenyan TV and Barely Any International Coverage
Kenyan TV channels broke into regularly scheduled programming for live coverage of Wednesday's SGR launch. A lot of the initial reporting, particularly during the live broadcast, was generally positive but as the day went on the tone on several networks began to change. KTN and NTV, in ...
Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway and the Dramas of Development
This week saw the launch of the newest phase of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway (SGR,) connecting the port in Mombasa to the Rift Valley town of Naivasha. The Mombasa-Naivasha section of the SGR cost $1.5 billion. It connects to the initial phase, between Nairobi and Mombasa, ...
Two Competing Views of the New Chinese-built Naivasha Standard Gauge Railway Line in Kenya
The Chinese-financed and constructed Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya is an extremely polarizing issue for many people in Kenya and throughout East Africa. Critics of President Uhuru Kenyatta see it as a financial boondoggle that will never pay for itself, leaving future generations to pick up the ...
The Kenyan Government is Forcing Transport Companies to Use the SGR
Cargo Transporters in Kenya oppose move by the government making it compulsory for cargo transported by the SGR #KTNBusiness #KTNBusinessToday pic.twitter.com/eHlSEaDf9K — ktn (@KTNKenya) September 23, 2019
Chinese Contractor Adopts Manufactured Sand in Quest for Alternative to Natural Sand
The presence of Chinese construction companies in Kenya is evident from the big projects they are handling; from roads to office complexes to shopping malls. The current government’s flagship transport project, the Standard Gauge Railway, which replaces the century-old lunatic express from the coastal city of Mombasa ...