Objectives of the railway study

The principal objectives of the KBO in launching a comprehen­sive study on the transport sector are the following:

• Disenclave the Basin by means of a complete transportation system;

•  Lower transportation costs;

• Provide several reliable and efficient alternative routes ó the Indian Ocean (thereby also reducing dangerous dep­endence on a single route and offering optional modes and transit countries);

• Stimulate economic growth by providing cheaper and better transport, new employment opportunities, reduced prices for consumer goods, a wider market, etc.;

• Foster regional cooperation and promote regional trade;

• Facilitate the exploitation of the region's substantial mineral wealth;

• Provide a safe and efficient passenger transport service;

•  Introduce new technical activities and train local personnel in alt aspects of transport field.

The achievement of these objectives depended largely on the creation of an efficient transport system and, given the long distances involved, preference was given to a railway system.

For the above reasons then, the KBO proposed the study of a railway network including the following railway connections:

• Uvinza-Musongati-Gitega-Rusumo Falls

• Kemondo Bay-Rusumo Falls-Kigali

• Kigali-Ruhengeri-Gisenyi

• Ruhengeri-Cyanika-Kabale-Bihanga

• Arusha-Musoma.

Railway standards

Due to the fact that, in the proposed project systems, the new railways are connected with the existing railways of Uganda and Tanzania, their technical characteristics have to be as uniform and compatible as possible. The technical standards of the existing railways, taken from those of the former East African Railway Corporation, were carefully evaluated and, whenever feasible and economically convenient, an improvement was proposed.

The gauge of the new network was to be the same as for the existing lines (1000 mm) but provision for the easy conversion to 1067 mm track gauge was considered.

The maximum vertical grade was 20%o, (uncompensated) for Rwanda, Burundi and Uganda, due to their extremely difficult geomorphological conditions, and 15%o (uncompensated) for Tanzania. The minimum radius of horizontal curves will be 250 m on main lines and 150 m on branch lines, sidings and yards. The standard length of station was 800 m to allow the circulation of the proposed freight trains.

In order to reach a just compromise between investment cost for the track and future track maintenance cost, in relation to the foreseen traffic flow, the proposed rail profile was the UIC 54 type, with concrete sleepers,  since these are in general cheaper than both wooden and steel sleepers, have a much longer life and could be manufactured using local materials. Concrete sleepers could be of monoblock pre-stressed or bi-­block type but for the purpose of the cost estimate, and follow­ing a prudential procedure, the more expensive monoblock pre­stressed type was considered.

Standards for bridges, culverts, flyovers, underpasses and tunnels were also defined.

Alignments and Stations

The new railway lines proposed and considered in the present study, were as shown in the following table.

Proposed new railway lines :

The total length of the complete network analysed and studied is therefore 2179.4 km.

All the alignments were carefully studied and traced on the topographical contour maps to the scale 1:50,000. The proposed alignments were then thoroughly investigated on site, where geological and hydrological surveys were also per­formed.

Once the main geomorphological constraints had been identified, the grade lane was designed and the necessary crossing stations were then located and a preliminary design was prepared for each, classifying them into standard stations (of various types) and special stations.

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