Green and Smart Transformation of Uganda's Railway System

Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) is seeking European companies, investors, engineering firms, technology providers, development finance institutions and research organisations to help transform selected railway and marine assets into modern, low-carbon, resilient and commercially sustainable transport systems.

URC's network operates substantially below its potential: of approximately 1,266 km of railway, only around 269 km is currently operational. The system faces ageing infrastructure, obsolete and high-emission rolling stock, a significant maintenance backlog inherited from a failed previous concession, and capital and institutional capacity constraints limiting asset renewal.

URC proposes a portfolio of interconnected investment and partnership opportunities across its priority corridors and assets.

Kampala–Kasese Green Railway Corridor: a pilot green railway corridor beginning with tree-planting, ecosystem-restoration and climate-resilience work along approximately 160 km of corridor and its 21-metre reserve buffer (around 320 hectares), envisaging some 65,280 climate-resilient trees to stabilise embankments, improve drainage and increase flood resilience. Preliminary estimates point to around 2,816 tCO₂e of annual carbon sequestration, opening a potential carbon-finance dimension. URC seeks partners to develop the concept into an investment-grade climate and nature-based solution — technical validation, GIS mapping, carbon assessment and certification, financing structuring and community participation — replicable on the Tororo–Gulu and Gulu–Pakwach corridors.

Kampala–Mukono High-Capacity, Electrified Passenger Railway: URC's most immediate opportunity to convert passenger rail into a modern urban and suburban mass-transit system. A Greater Kampala feasibility study commissioned by the European Commission has established a technical and economic basis for expanding services on a network centred on Bujuuko–Kampala–Mukono and Kampala–Port Bell, including an electrified EMU scenario with double-tracking alongside diesel alternatives. URC seeks European partners for engineering and systems design, electrification, electric or hybrid rolling stock, energy systems, signalling, station modernisation, digital ticketing and financing/PPP structures, building on a complementary AFD-supported study.

Tororo–Gulu Solar Energy and Low-Carbon Railway Corridor: the approximately 385 km corridor is under rehabilitation (around 75% complete, completion projected October 2026), creating a timely window to define its energy and rolling-stock strategy. Given northern Uganda's high solar potential, URC proposes a study to assess solar generation along the railway reserve, potentially with battery storage, to power electrified or hybrid rolling stock — extendable to the Gulu–Pakwach corridor, for which a feasibility study is already complete.

Port Bell Green Port and Sustainable Marine Transport: URC is developing Port Bell into a pilot green port, with feasibility and design under way. As the interface between Uganda's railway and inland water transport, it offers a chance to demonstrate an integrated green transport model combining rail, marine transport and renewable energy. URC seeks partners for green port infrastructure and low-emission marine services — renewable energy, efficient cargo-handling, shore-side power, cleaner propulsion, digital port systems, and waste/water management.

Building Institutional Capacity: Uganda's new electrified Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), under construction, will introduce technologies differing significantly from those URC currently manages. URC seeks partnerships with European railway operators, infrastructure managers, rolling-stock companies and training institutions for knowledge transfer in track maintenance, electrification, signalling, rolling-stock maintenance, telecommunications and asset management. In parallel, URC is establishing a Railway Training Institute (RTI) as a regional centre of excellence for East and Central Africa, seeking partners to develop its curriculum, training standards, instructors and certification frameworks.

Potential solution areas include railway rehabilitation and modernisation, electrification and low-carbon rolling stock, nature-based climate resilience and carbon-finance structuring, renewable energy integration, green port and marine technologies, digital asset management and railway systems engineering, and technical training and institutional capacity building.