Jinja, Uganda | URN | The Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) says that the new locomotives will be able to start operations next week following the successful re-construction of a triangular section.
Stanley Sendegeya, the Managing Director of URC, says that all is well, and the new locomotives are good to go despite reports indicating trains bought were not of the right size for our rails, and that a crash had occurred at a triangular section.
He says that they have now completed the construction and rehabilitation of the triangular sections in Kampala, Jinja and in Tororo district.
Recently, URC procured four locomotives at Shilling 48 billion. However, there are concerns that the new locomotives are not compatible with the available rails in the country.
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It followed concern that the eight-year-old locomotives were long and couldn’t turn on the available triangular sections of the rail among other challenges.
Geoffrey Obara, the Engineer with URC says that although the operators of the new trains are still undergoing training, instructors among others will help to run the train as the operators get used to it.
“We are set for next week, the locomotive successfully run on Friday, and we hope that from next week we can start the transportation of goods,” he said.