The Planning, Construction and Impact the Uganda Railway - Case Study Example

The Planning, Construction and Impact the Uganda Railway Introduction This paper discusses the colonial undertaking of the British Empire known as the Uganda Railway. The subject is discussed under these headings: the planning of the railway, its construction and the various impacts it had during and after construction – social impact as well as impact on urbanization and tourism. The papers conclusion summarizes the main points and makes a suggestion. Planning the Railway The Uganda Railway was colloquially known as the Lunatic Express. The line opens up the interiors of Kenya and Uganda to the Indian Ocean at the Kenyan city of Mombasa. It was Charles Miller who coined the term “Lunatic Express” in his 1971 book The Lunatic Express: An Entertainment in Imperialism. The term refers to the fact that the massive project that would cost £5 million and claim several lives was nonsensical to everyone but the visionaries behind it (Miller 3). Tabloid reports of the day referred to the project as the “Lunatic Line” while Africans saw it as the “Iron Snake” meandering through their lands (Gaudet 5). The main reason the railway was built was to open up the interiors of the Uganda Protectorate and the British East Africa Protectorate to trade(Mole 24). Although plans for a railway for the British East Africa date back to 1885, real planning started in 11890(Gunston 47). In 1885, Frederic Holmwood, a Zanzibar-based British official proposed a light railway that would link Mount Kilimanjaro to the coast. He envisaged the railway delivering to Zanzibar fine textiles from Manchester. In exchange, rubber, ivory and cattle would find their way into Britain. In 1889, the Imperial British East Africa (IBEA) Co. contemplated a portable railroad of the order of “Decauville”, the light portable railway of France. However, the company soon concluded that the idea was not suitable for the East African terrain and abandoned it. Thus, these two attempts represented false starts. Instead, the IBEA Co. advocated a rather grand Central Africa Railway (CAR). The company attempted to persuade the British government by arguing that the building of the CAR would open up the interior of the British East African territory to trade(Gunston 56). The British government bought the idea, although it soon turned out to be a failure. The lightly laid 60cm gauge line was launched at Mombasa in August 1890. Only 11km of the track were laid before the CAR project was abandoned, although materials had been imported for 113km. In a rather desperate move to salvage the situation and justify the use of the British taxpayer’s money, materials for CAR were diverted and used to extend the existing manual street trolley facility on Mombasa Island. However, even the diversion meant more cost to the taxpayer as the street trolley and CAR were considerably apart; CAR was based on Mombasa Mainland while the street trolley system was based on Mombasa Island. The reasons the project was abandoned are not clear. It was not until 1891 that real progress was made as far as the planning of the UR was concerned. In early 1891, the British government advised the IBEA Co. to raise capital of £1.25 million for the construction and equipping of a metre gauge railway line from Mombasa to Lake Victoria(Gunston 63). On its part, the British government promised to guarantee interest on the capital sum. As a result, the company commissioned three eminent British Engineers – Sir John Fowler, Sir Guildford Molesworth and General Williams – to undertake a study on the feasibility and likely cost of constructing the railway. On their report following the study, the three engineers underestimated the African communities that would be affected by the project (the Kamba, Kikuyu and Nandi) and the ways they would impact work on the railway. The engineers did not anticipate any opposition from the natives, a fatal mistake as will be demonstrated in subsequent paragraphs. Construction of the Railway Work on the UR started in earnest on Mombasa Island in early 1896 following the arrival of George Whitehouse, the Chief Engineer of the project, and his team at Mombasa in December 1895. The priority was to establish, at Kilindini, new port facilities capable of handling railway equipment and supplies. The old dhow harbour at Kilindini was not suited for the development of the port facilities(Foran 188). Another priority was the construction of a temporary bridge linking Mombasa Island and the mainland. The bridge was completed in early August 1896, paving the way for track-laying on the mainland. Because of these events, historians have not been able to agree unanimously on the on the precise start of work on the UR. There are those who peg commencement of work on the railway on Whitehouse’s arrival in early December 1895; others cite the official “First Rail” ceremony held on May 30, 1896. Still, others cite August 4, 1896 when the laying of tracks on the mainland commenced(Gunston 60). However, for this paper, the debate is of little consequence. A major milestone came in May 1896 when the railhead reached Nairobi, Kenya’s national capital, then known as Nyrobi(Gunston 58). Nairobi was selected as the location of a major depot for the project. The site was approximately 326 miles from Mombasa. Nairobi was also significant in the sense that it marked the end of a largely flat terrain; thereafter, the railway would have to meander its way through a more mountainous terrain. Another milestone came in on December 19, 1901 when the railway line reached Port Florence, on the shores of Lake Victoria. Whitehouse had renamed the city Port Florence in honour of his wife, but the city soon reverted to its native name of Kisumu. At the time the railway reached Port Florence, its western portion lay within the Uganda Protectorate. Then, in April 1902, the boundary of the British East Africa Protectorate, present-day Kenya, was extended westward into the Uganda Protectorate(Ingham 42). From then henceforth, the entire UR lay within Kenya, thereby rendering the label “Uganda Railway” both inaccurate and misleading. The arrival of the railway at Port Florence did not mark the end of work on it; it was not until 1903 that much of the finishing work was completed, even though alignment sections of the track was completed in September 1904. Following the completion of the UR, the Uganda Railway Committee was dissolved and succeeded by a new Railway administration. The construction of the Uganda Railway was not without challenges. The challenges encountered during the endeavour can be helpfully divided into two: challenges encountered between Mombasa and Nairobi and those encountered between Nairobi and Port Florence. The three major challenges that railway workers had to contend with during the first half of the project were harsh desert conditions and the accompanying shortage of water, man-eating lions and opposition from local communities(Gunston 64). The Taru desert extended 50 miles inland from Mombasa. The thorny scrubs of the desert made the clearing of land for track-laying difficult and water was scarce; the nearest source of water from the Taru was the Tsavo River that the railway crossed 132 miles from Mombasa. It was during the building of a permanent bridge at Tsavo that work on the railway was dramatically interrupted by the man-eating lions of Tsavo. Twenty-eight Indian and an unknown number of African workers were devoured by the lions. Operations at the site were seriously curtailed between March and December 1898. Overall, relations between the railway workers and the local communities they interacted were reported to be amicable. However, some instances of skirmishes were reported between the Kamba and the railway workers over scarce water resources. The former also accused the latter of having illicit sexual relations with their women(Gunston 60). The Nandi people staged the fiercest opposition to the construction of the Uganda Railway. Later on, however, their attitude is reported to have changed from that of opposition as they started to steal copper telegraph wire and steel objects from railway depots to make better ornaments and spears. However, no historian has been able to quantify the amount of materials they appropriated. Plate: UR Steel Viaduct across Mau Escarpment Source: American Bridge, 2015 The main challenge during the second half of the UR was posed by the largely mountainous terrain. Whereas the terrain from Mombasa to Nairobi had largely been either flat or gently sloping, Whitehouse, his team of engineers and workers had to manoeuvre through mountainous terrain(Ramaer 74). Certainly, the Mau Escarpment posed the most formidable challenge. However, the difficulty presented by the Escarpment also offered the opportunity for engineering ingenuity never experience gain in the civil engineering history of Kenya. The engineers’ solution to the problem was an American steel viaduct shown in the plate to the left. The viaduct is still intact and functional more than a century later. Social impact The construction of the Uganda Railway gave rise to a significant Indian population in Kenya. The bulk of workers on the UR were Indian coolies – unskilled labourers brought into the country from India to work on the railway. The British government had completed a similar project in India, the country having been also a colony of Britain. Thus, the colonialists felt that the Indian coolies were more experienced in track-laying relative to their Kenyan counterparts(Gunston 55). Whereas some of the coolies returned to India upon the completion of the railway in early in the twentieth century, the majority of them remained in Kenya. However, despite their considerable numbers, the Kenyan Indians remain largely isolated from the mainstream Kenyan society. They mostly live in the major urban centers of the country and are involved in running family businesses. Another social impact of the UR was the loss of the lives of the railway workers. At least twenty-eight Indian coolies and an unknown number of African laborers are reported to have been killed by the ferocious man-eating lions of Tsavo, although some sources put that figure at 135(Miller 541). Still, other workers succumbed to fatigue and tropical diseases such as malaria. Even more lives were claimed by the Kedong Massacre. The massacre was triggered by an incident in which the railway workers were accused of raping two Maasai girls. The Maasai reacted by attacking a caravan of workers and killing five hundred of them. The railway workers launched a counter-attack led by the British Andrew Dick. Unfortunately, Dick ran out of ammunition and the Maasai speared him to death. Many of the deaths associated with the building of the UR can be attributed to the lack of foresight among the engineers who undertook the projects feasibility study. Had the engineers done due diligence, they would have taken cognizance of the presence of the man-eaters of Tsavo and the possibility of conflicts between the workers and the locals and put in place mitigative measures. Impact on Urbanization The construction of the UR led to the emergence of administrative and trading centres first along the main line of the railway, then later along its branches(Jedwab, Kerby and Moradi 2). Along the main line, the most important centre that emerged was Nairobi, Kenya’s national capital city, then known as Nyrobi. Prior to the arrival of the railway, Nairobi was a marshy area inhabited by the Maasai community. The railway engineers settled on the site for a depot for railway operations owing to its flat terrain, plenty of land and conducive climate. Nairobi quickly became an important administrative centre that later rose to become the country’s capital. Other centres that emerged as a result of the UR and its extensions include Machakos, Thika and Magadi among others. These have since grown into major towns. Unfortunately, these towns and centres were never planned from the onset, a trend that has persisted to date. Understandably, it was not the responsibility of the railway engineers to plan the centers; their job was to build the railway. However, the colonial authorities, and their successors after independence, did not follow up to prepare land use plans for the centers. As a result, they have grown haphazardly. Tourism Plate: Former US President Theodore Roosevelt riding the UR Source: Capstick, 1988 Being the only modern means of transport linking the East African coast and the interior, the UR spurred tourism in the region, especially during the first two decades of the twentieth century. The British print media became awash with advertisements inviting the British to go ride in the trains and enjoy the warm climate of Kenya. Riders were invited to sit on the platform at the front of the locomotive from where they could enjoy better view of the wild animals. When the then US President Theodore Roosevelt rode the line in 1909, as shown in the picture on the left, demand for rides roared(Capstick 52). Unfortunately, the euphoria lasted no more than the first two decades of the completion of the line. Thereafter, it appears, very little was done to sustain the initiative. Today, Kenya remains a favourite tourist destination for international visitors. However, the railway long ceased to be a part of the booming tourist industry. Conclusion and Suggestion The UR was built mainly to link the Uganda Protectorate and the British East Africa Protectorate to the East African coast and open them up to trade with Britain. The construction of the railway was preceded by at least two false starts. The IBEA Co. the British government’s commercial interests representative in East Africa played an important part in planning and funding the railway. The construction of the UR that lasted between 1896 and 1904 can be conveniently divided into two phases: the first phase ran from Mombasa to Nairobi and the second phase from Nairobi to Port Florence, now Kisumu. Several challenges were encountered – hostile communities, adverse weather and shortage of water, the man-eaters of Tsavo and difficult terrain. A few extensions were added to the main line, the last one, to Soroti, having been in 1929. Since then, the line has remained constant. However, the Kenyan government has announced plans to build a modern standard gauge railway in partnership with Kenyas neighbor Uganda (Republic of Kenya 6). The two governments should fast-track those plans. Works Cited Capstick, Peter Hathaway. African Game Trails: An Account of the African Wanderings of an American Hunter-Naturalist (Capstick Adventure Library). New York: St. Martins Press, 1988. Web. Foran, R. "Early VIPs on the railway ." East Africa Railways and Harbours Magazine 1957. Web. Gaudet, John. The Iron Snake (Paperback). Richmond: Brandylane Publishers, Inc, 2007. Web. Gunston, Henry. "The Planning and Construction of the Uganda Railway ." Transportation Newcomen Society (2004): 45-71. Web. Ingham, K. "Ugandas Old Eastern Province: The Transfer to the East Africa Protectorate in 1902." Uganda Journal (1957): 41-46. Web . Jedwab, Remi, Edward Kerby and Alexander Moradi. Out of Africa: Colonial Railroads, White Settlement and Path Dependence in Kenya. Thesis. Barcelona: University of Barcelona, 2013. Web. Miller, Charles. The Lunatic Express: An Entertainment in Imperialism. London: Macmillan Company, 1971.Print . Mole, Wilfred. "Well take the car..." Narrow Gauge World November-December 2010: 23-27. Web . Ramaer, R. "Early locomotives in Esat Africa." Continental Railway Journal (1980). Web . Republic of Kenya. "Standard Gauge Railway ." Uchukuzi June 2014: 6-8. Web . Read More