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After the First World War the main line was continued from Nakuru towards Uganda reaching Kampala in 1931. A branch line was built in Kenya linking the main line to Lake Magadi in 1915Events January 12 The Rocky Mountain National Park is established by an act of Congress. January 12 United States House of Representatives rejects proposal to give women the right to vote. January 13 An earthquake (6. 8 in Richter scale) in Avezzano, Ital. Another went to central Kenya reaching Thika in 19131913 is a common year starting on Wednesday. click on link for calendar) Events January-March January 30 House of Lords rejects Irish Home Rule Bill February 1 New York City's Grand Central Station opens as the world's largest train station. February 3 Th, Naro Moro in 1927Centuries: 19th century 20th century 21st century Decades: 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s Years: 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 See also 1927 in aviation 1927 in film 1927 in literature 1927 in mu and finally Mount KenyaMount Kenya is the highest mountain in Kenya, and the second-highest in Africa (after Mount Kilimanjaro). The highest peaks of the mountain are Batian (5,199 m), Nelion (5,188 m) and Lenana (4,985 m). The mountain is an extinct volcano standing alone, whi in 1931. Another went to KitaleKitale is a small agricultural town in western Kenya situated between Mount Elgon and the Cherengani Hills at an elevation of around 7000 feet. It is the administrative centre of the Trans-Nzoia District of Rift Valley Province. The main cash crops grown in western Kenya in 1926. By 1929 another branch line was built in from Tororo to Soroti in northern Uganda. Another went to Kasese in western Uganda in 1965. It was extended to Arua near the border with Zaire in 1964.
The railway is metre-gauge and virtually all single-track. It was built by the British East Africa Company using labour mainly brought in from British India. The working and living conditions were bad and many died through disease or attack by wild animals as the films The Man-eaters of Tsavo, Bwana Devil and The Ghost and the Darkness depict. Crossing the 450 metre tall escarpment of the Rift Valley was a major technical problem. The railway cost around 5 million pounds and the first services started in 1903.
The Asian workers were the first of many who emigrated to the region bringing much needed technical and entrepreneurial skills. Idi Amin expelled all the Asians resident in Uganda in 1972. Many remain in Kenya and Tanzania although many others have moved to the United Kingdom and other countries of the British Commonwealth.
Despite being called "the Lunatic Line" by its detractors, the railway was a huge logistical achievement and became strategically and economically vital for both Uganda and Kenya. It was used in the suppression of slavery and in the First World War campaign against General Paul Erich von Lettow-Vorbeck in German East Africa, modern Tanzania. The railway allowed heavy equipment to be transported far inland with relative ease. Up until that time the main form of transport in the interior was ox-drawn wagon. The railway also allowed coffee and tea to be exported and encouraged colonial settlement and other types of commerce.
The focusing effect of railway junctions and depots created many of the interior's modern towns and ports, such as:
The state of the modern railway in Uganda is not as impressive as those early achievements. 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.
The modern railway in Kenya, although it still operates and is an economic lifeline to the surrounding countries, has many problems. Lack of safety is a major concern. In 1993, 114 perished in a passenger train which plunged into a river after floods washed away a bridge. In 1999, 32 died at Tsavo National park when brakes on a passenger train failed making it derail. In 2000, 13 died near Kisumu after a passenger train rolled back due to failed brakes. In 2000, at least 25 were burnt to death after a goods train carrying gas exploded. The maximum speed of trains on the railway is 30 miles / 45 km per hour.
A related article on the Lake Victoria ferries details the transport of steel ferries from Europe at the beginning of the 1900s, in parts, and their construction on the shores of Lake Victoria.
Similar railways were built in Tanzania by the Germans when the country was German East Africa, the British when it was Tanganyika and the Chinese in modern Tanzania.
Uganda