Back on the tracks! Uganda Railways resumes commuter train services, fares increased

By Samuel Muhimba

Nearly seven months after suspending operations due to the outbreak of COVID 19, Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) has announced resumption of commuter train services effective 1 November.

‘’The Commuter Train is Back On Track effective 1st November 2020 and we will follow our Normal Schedule’’- the corporation noted in a short public notice.

The corporation has also confirmed that the necessary commuter train and ticketing stations have undergone the necessary inspections to ensure all mandatory SOP's are in place for the staff and passengers’ safety.

As part of the SOPs, the train will operate at 50% to ensure social distancing.

Change in fares

Just like the taxi operators, URC has also announced increase in fares from Shs1000 to Shs2000.

It should be remembered that following the outbreak of the pandemic in Uganda, Eng. Charles Kateeba, the managing director of the corporation, announced in March that URC had decided to suspend its commuter train services effective March 23, 2020 until further notice as they continued to monitor the development of COVID-19.

Although public transport resumed on June 4, URC had delayed the resumption of the passenger train asserting that it was too risky to resume operations due to the huge number of passengers.

And now that the train has finally hit the tracks again, passengers using the Kampala-Namanve route can say goodbye to traffic jam.

URC has five coaches with a maximum capacity of 200 passengers. The train makes 3 trips to and from Kampala via Nakawa, New MUBS, Kireka, Namboole, and Namanve.

In the month of February alone, records show that 60,000 passengers had used the train compared to 45,000 in March just before the lockdown.