Switch to standard gauge rail to up productivity

East African countries are switching from Cape Gauge rail to standard gauge rail (SGR) to increase rail capacity and productivity. In its Africa’s Development Dynamics 2025: Infrastructure, Growth and Transformation report, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), ranks East Africa’s infrastructure investment need as the largest in Africa. “To close the gap with their peer countries in other world regions, East African countries require an investment of $42 billion per year until 2040, equivalent to 8.6% of the region’s gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024. “Such an investment would increase East Africa’s GDP growth by six percentage points,” it states. The four largest economies together account for 92% of the investment required (Ethiopia 32%, Tanzania 27%, Sudan 18% and Kenya 15%). Progress is being made, with the region reporting the second- highest government spending on infrastructure of the five OECD regions (at 1.9% of GDP), after southern Africa’s 2.4%. Big spenders are Uganda at 4.2% of its annual budget and Tanzania at 5%. Kenya spends more on debt servicing than infrastructure, according to the report. Tanzania is leveraging its geographic position and three deepwater Indian Ocean ports (Dar es Salaam, Tanga and Mtwara), which are gateways for trade with the East and Europe. Work is due to start on the Bagamoyo port complex, after the Tanzania Ports Authority (TPA) in December 2025 appointed MSC subsidiary Africa Global Logistics (AGL) as construction partner. AGL will be responsible for the design, construction and operation of the first three Bagamoyo berths, after a contract with Chinese developers of the port was cancelled in 2019. Freight has started moving on a standard grade link between Dar es Salaam and the capital Dodoma in central Tanzania, with extensions to western border under way. Construction on the Tanzania–Burundi SGR line began in late 2025, supported by the African Development Bank (AfDB). A $1.4bn revitalisation of the 1 860km TAZARA line linking Zambia to Dar es Salaam is entering an “active implementation phase,” says the Tanzania-Zambia Railway Authority. In another development, Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) is taking over operations on the SGR line from the Chinese firm Afristar. The line links Mombasa with the Rift Valley town of Suswa, passing through the capital, Nairobi. There are plans to extend the line to the Lake Victoria port of Kisumu. Uganda is set to commence construction of a 272km Malaba–Kampala SGR in April 2026, with the Turkish contractor Yapi Merkezi leading the project. ER