Two months down the road, passenger service train has a long way to go

The passenger train has five coaches and each can carry up to 200 people. However, few have embraced it. PHOTO BY Rachel Mabala 

In Summary

Almost two months after the commuter train services were resumed in Kampala, there have been mixed reactions from users.

On a chilly Monday morning, I I am out of bed at 5 am earlier than usual, urged on by the nerves of an anxious day that lies ahead.

I have a scheduled train journey. Nervous at the prospect of my maiden train ride, I shudder at the sight of endless cabins snaking through the early morning fog.
The boda boda ride –my usual form of transport-which I took to the Namanve station has done little to calm my nerves.

As the train is re-fuelled at the station, passengers pay their fares and take seats. I also pay before finding my way into one of the coaches. Unsure of when it sets off, the honking is a clear sign that departure time is upon us. The nerves start cooling down.

The smile on Angelina Agudo’s face is testimony that she was equally excited at the prospect of a maiden train ride. “Finally, I am here, “she sighs, as she takes her seat. Agudo, a police officer stationed in Kireka, boarded at the Kireka port. She had missed the ride on several occasions because its departure time clashes with the time she leaves for work. She lives in Nsambya and it was her first time to board a train. She usually boards a taxi or pioneer bus which charges the Shs1,500 fare.

Perceptions
Though the passenger train has been in service for one and a half months, some passengers still regard it an old-fashioned mode of transport but many are excited at the novelty it offers in a city beset with public transport problems.
Agudo speaks glowingly of the services of the train as comfortable and time-saving. “This train is far better than a taxi. I can sit anywhere I feel like and it’s clean and well-aerated”.
The passenger service train has five coaches. At capacity, it carries 1,000 passengers. Each coach is purposed to carry 200 passengers. Emmanuel Gonza Mugema, the team leader at Uganda Railways says the peak of boarding time is at around 6.30 am as passengers head to work.
“Passenger turn up is usually high at 6.30am when most workers and businessmen are going to their places of work and business premises respectively, “Gonza says.

The ride
A stroll through the coaches reveals comfort. Scarcely populated with two to five passengers per coach, the comfort is a far cry from packed city taxis. Ramathan Sewanyana, an undertaker at the station, says the train sets off at 6.30am for its first shift. On a bad day, it takes about 20 passengers.

Similarly, the return journey at 8.30am to Namanve has few passengers.
They are usually not more than 20 passengers. “There are not so many people who use the train from Kampala at 7.30am,” says Geoffrey Mukisa, a security guard with Uganda Railways.
During the second shift at 4pm, very few people, about 10 boarded the train back to Namboole, Kireka and Kampala, probably because majority are still at work.

However, the return journey from Kampala at 5.30pm had a great turn up. Gonza says between 120 to 300 passengers board the train back to Namanve.

“There is a long stretch of over 25 kilometres from Kampala to Mukono. The evenings are worse as traffic entering the city and leaving is stiffer. That is the jam that the train breaks – and also back from work at around 5.30 pm. This is why the numbers are high,” he says.

Service
The train has a number of people or administrators who operate it. It has an on board supervisor to ensure that everything is in order, a driver, security, a team leader, and ticketing clerks who are in charge of selling tickets.

Maintenance
The coaches were impeccably clean. I later learnt they are cleaned twice a day (every morning and evening).The train is serviced monthly at Nalukolongo Service Station.

Time
“In the morning, a number of vehicles; fuel tankers, heavy trailers, and various buses, taxis, and private cars fight for space on the narrow two-lane highway into the city. This forces some people to use the train,” says Gonza, the team leader.

Currently, there are two shifts in a day. The train leaves Namanve station at 6.30 am daily and takes about 50 minutes to reach its destination, the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) section at Nasser Road in Kampala. It leaves Kampala at 7.30am and parks at the station in Namanve until 4pm when it leaves for the second trip.
A number of passengers board it. Most of these are corporates, according to the team leader at Uganda railways. Most of these come from Mukono, Seeta and Bweyogerere to board the train”.
Sylvester Nyanzi, a passenger, shares, “I live in Bweyogerere and usually board the train from the station at 6.30 am because I have to be at work at 7.30am. Travelling by the train helps me dodge the traffic jam and I’m assured of being at work within 50 minutes”.

Passengers are dropped off at three ports; Namboole, Kireka, Nakawa and the final destination which is the Rift Valley Railways (RVR) station in Kampala. In total, from Namanve to Kampala, the train takes seven minutes to reach Namboole port, another seven to reach Kireka port, 15 minutes to reach Nakawa and another 15 minutes to reach Kampala from Nakawa.

At times, the train departure for its second shift is delayed at Namanve station by about 20 minutes or more. This is due to the long process of detaching the head from the last coach to the front which takes about 20 minutes and sometimes a delay in relaying instructions due to network breakdown or slow network from the Nairobi office which controls the train through Global Positioning System (GPS).