KAMPALA – Uganda Railways Corporation (URC) has moved to clarify concerns surrounding the reported disappearance of 394 railway wagons, saying the assets were never returned by former concessionaire Rift Valley Railways (RVR) after the collapse of its concession agreement.
In a detailed statement issued on Thursday, URC traced the matter back to the concessioning of railway operations in Uganda and Kenya in 2006, when both countries handed over railway operations and assets to RVR.
According to the corporation, a joint asset verification conducted in 2010 between URC and RVR physically accounted for 1,414 wagons under RVR’s custody. However, 131 wagons belonging to Uganda could not be physically verified during that exercise.
URC explained that in 2013, RVR migrated railway asset records from the ACIS system previously used by Uganda and Kenya to a new platform known as Translogic. The corporation said no fresh physical verification of assets accompanied the migration, meaning historical discrepancies were carried into the new system.
The railway operator further noted that the concession was formally repudiated by Uganda’s Ministry of Finance, Planning and Economic Development in January 2018. URC resumed control of railway operations on January 25, 2018, but said the takeover occurred without a comprehensive verification of railway assets.
Addressing the controversy over the 394 wagons, URC said only 113 of the wagons belong to Uganda, while the remaining 281 are the property of the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC).
The corporation added that joint verification exercises conducted in January and November 2024 resulted in KRC acknowledging the status of its missing wagons. URC also stressed that Kenya has neither demanded compensation nor lodged any formal claim against Uganda over the assets.
“The missing 113 wagons were never returned to URC by RVR. This and other failures formed the basis upon which the concession was terminated and a repudiation letter issued,” the corporation said.
The clarification comes amid renewed public scrutiny over the whereabouts of the railway wagons and accountability for assets transferred during the regional railway concession.
URC maintains that the issue stems from historical asset management challenges during the RVR concession period rather than losses incurred after the corporation resumed control of railway operations.
