Kenya: 20 locomotives ordered by RVR

EAST Africa’s Rift Valley Railways (RVR) had funding of 2.2 billion Kenyan shillings (R265.1 million) to buy 20 locomotives to be delivered by next April, it said yesterday. The operator of the only rail line linking Kenya’s Indian Ocean coast with Uganda is expected to face competition from a new railway being built with Chinese financing from the Mombasa port to the Ugandan border. RVR said it had a loan of 1.8 billion shillings from South Africa’s Standard Bank and its Kenyan unit, CfC Stanbic. RVR would provide the remainder of the funds and said it had already received three General Electric locomotives. Rail carries only 1 million tons of the 20 million tons of cargo passing through Mombasa annually. – Reuters