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East Africa: Railway Vandalism Hurts RVR
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The Monitor (Kampala)
19 June 2008
Posted to the web 19 June 2008
Dorothy Nakaweesi
Rift Valley Railways, the Kenya-Uganda railway operator, continues to bear brunt as the thriving scrap-iron trade in Kenya rears its ugly head.
RVR has suspended traffic on the Nakuru-Kisumu section of railway line following destruction of more than more than seven viaducts on the section, which according RVR Managing Director Roy Puffett, had turned the railway section into "disaster in the waiting". The closure effectively means that there will be no railway traffic heading out of Nakuru to the Kibos container terminal or Kisumu port.
"As the operator of the Kenya railways, we have a duty to protect life and property entrusted to us either as commuters or freight cargo and we have therefore taken the decision to close the line in the interest of public safety and good pending repairs and security beef up," a press statement issued on June 17 explained, adding that the rise in vandalism has been expertly perpetrated by persons with a clear technical know how of the railway system. However, Puffet said the closure of the Nakuru-Kisumu railway line will not affect the smooth flow of cargo from the port of Mombasa to Uganda since all goods destined for Uganda go through Eldoret to Malaba.
The closure brings into sharp focus the role of the security apparatus charged with the responsibility of protecting and securing the railway network.
While the line remains closed, RVR will undertake comprehensive repairs and has pledged to reopen the branch line once the repairs are completed and acceptable measures to further secure the railway line are undertaken by the respective government and security agents.
RVR has in the past five months suffered high incidents of vandalism on the vital sections of the Kenya-Uganda railway as post-election violence, vandalism, and poor weather continue to affect the company's operations. About 127 incidents of vandalism were reported in the last five months.
Mr Puffett said: "Most of the vandalism incidents have been geared at causing fatal derailments on railways property which could lead to deaths and damage on clients' property and is also designed to tarnish the industry".
RVR also announced that the repair works on the damaged culverts along Jinja -Iganga line were completed last week on Friday and cargo trains are now crossing smoothly to deliver their consignments to Kampala.
The culverts were damaged last month when heavy rains washed away a section of the line and RVR had promised to repair the line in approximately four weeks, which was achieved last Friday.
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"We are glad that the Jinja section is now up and running in the time that we had estimated and we want to assure everyone that the temporary closure of the Nakuru-Kisumu line, will not affect the movement of cargo to Uganda," Mr Puffett said.
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