The East African railway market share along the Northern Corridor has declined over the last two years from 16 to 8.7 per cent, according to the transport data collected by the Seamless Transport committee.

The data reveals that there is a major shift of cargo from rail to road and increasing road accidents, maintenance and freight costs.

"The ideal situation is 30 per cent and it has been steadily reducing over the last 10 years because of inefficiency currently experienced in the railway system.

As a result there has been rampant use of trucks in the region yet these contribute to the poor state of roads in the region,” said Mwanamaka Mabruki, corporate development manager of Kenya Ports Authority during a press briefing on Wednesday after a meeting to review and validate transport data collected along the Northern Corridor from Mombasa to Kigali.

The committee meeting further raised concerns over the joint concession of Kenya and Uganda railway to Rift Valley Railways limited to own and run the 900 kilometer Kenya-Uganda railway connecting the port of Mombasa with landlocked Uganda.

"There is urgent need for governments in the region to invest in the railway system to reverse the current trends for instance the locomotive and infrastructure that are currently in poor state.

Ideally bulky cargo should be transported by railway. The use of roads is expensive and economies of scale indicate use of railway is cheaper for long distances,” said Alex Kabuga, Seamless Transport Committee chairman.

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