Of commuter trains and one lucky American dude

It is indeed very true that our lives are greatly affected by our environment. I was reminded of this fact in the last two weeks. In primary school, our teachers never tired to remind us of the fact that there are four types of transport: road, rail, air and water. Looking back to my primary school days and my life today, it occurs to me that I have had the chance to use road, air and water transport but rail transport is still a dream. It is not really my fault if you look at the fact that the closest I have come to associate myself with trains has been the constant writing of essays on examination scripts detailing the development of the famous Uganda Railway. The railway that stretches from the coast of Mombasa runs all the way to places like Kasese in eastern Uganda and Pakwach in north-western Uganda. But today most of what we wrote about the railway is not what appears on the ground. Today, the Ugandan section of the train largely moves from Kampala to Mombasa, carrying strictly cargo. So, the only chance a Ugandan has to use a train is during those few occasions when someone at Rift Valley Railways (RVR) colludes with Kampala City officials to allow a few train coaches to ferry football fans to a big game at Namboole Stadium. I say colludes because RVR, the company that won the tender to operate the railway, does not have a passenger transport licence in Uganda. Working in Rwanda where there is not even a single rail track only makes my chances of a train ride a constant dream. Sometime this year I was in Kenya and I would often stop to just look at the train pass by in Embakasi, Nairobi. Now the Kenyans have taken it a step further. After rubbing it in with that amazing piece of architecture – now known as the Nairobi-Thika Super highway – they quickly went on to launch the Nairobi Commuter Rail Service and the Syokimau Railway Station. The railway extension and the beautiful station are the first to have been built in 80 years. The move is expected to greatly reduce the burden of using Mombasa road that is known for daily traffic snarl-ups. The train will ferry passengers from Syokimau to the city centre.I said it here before that we all ought to be ashamed of the fact that since the old railway line was built we have never bothered to add even a single kilometre. And that is why we should commend Kenyans for seeing the necessity to build a new station and also build an extra two kilometres of rail to connect the station to the original Mombasa-Nairobi railway line. Kenyans also plan to follow this up with the construction on more stations at Imara Daima, Makadara and Joogo Road, and also have future plans for commuter services in Mombasa and Kisumu cities. The ambitious LAPSSET project also includes a railway line from Lamu all the way into South Sudan and Ethiopia. Incidentally, Tanzanians also launched a commuter train service in Dar es Salaam a few days before Kenyans did. The service covers one track that runs from Mwakanga and Tazara railway stations and the second track runs between Ubungo-Maziwa and railway stations. We can now safely say that Nairobi and Dar are on the right track as far as management of city transport is concerned. Kampala, Kigali and Bujumbura should pick some lessons before city transport becomes a problem. Actually, it is already a problem in Kampala. As I wrote this piece, I was constantly disturbed by the fact that one of Uganda’s most beautiful females had offered her heart to an American named Christopher Thomas. In case you were not aware, this lucky American is now the husband to Toro Kingdom’s Princess Ruth Komuntale. The American dude from Missouri is now a duke and eyes will now turn to Komuntale’s brother, King Oyo. For obvious reasons one guest who was missing at this wedding was the former Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi. Gaddafi is remembered for having helped Toro Kingdom in many ways, including the reconstruction of the palace building as well as picking the bill for the King and the Princess’ education. I wonder how he would have felt about his ‘daughter’ getting married to an American. Anyway, may the newlyweds live happily ever after – as they say. Blog: www.ssenyonga.wordpress.comTwitter: @ssojo81