Rift Valley Railways, the concessionaire managing the Kenya – Uganda Railway hosted over 300 pupils from Victorious Primary school to a passenger service experience on its Kampala Commuter Service train.
The main aim of the tour was to provide a platform for the children to experience a different form of surface transportation, but at the same time provide an appreciation of Railway transport.
Charles Ssentongo, RVR Senior Concession & Compliance manager in charge of passenger services, expressed his gratitude towards Victorious primary school Management for choosing RVR as a partner in giving the children such a field experience. He said,“We have always had children use the passenger service but rarely a thrilled number as the ones present for the experience today. Unbelievably, many people in this country especially the young generation have had no train experience except watching the trains pass by.”
URC in partnership with KCCA and Rift valley Railways in December 2015 resumed passenger services between Namanve and Kampala with the aim of providing relief from the heavy road traffic along the corridor during rush hours.
Rebecca Akampulira, the section head p3-p4 at Victorious primary school thanked RVR for giving the children the train experience. She noted, “Victorious aims to provide an all-round education to its pupils which includes field excursions such as the train tour and ride. We believe that after this experience, our children now have a better understanding of the difference between the different means of transport, in this case road and rail.”
The estimated journey time for the passenger train service is approximately 40 minutes between Kampala and Namanve Railway Station with travel schedule times; Namanve to Kampala at 7.00am, Kampala to Namanve at 5.30pm, Namanve to Kampala at 6.25pm and last trip from Kampala to Namanve at 7.50pm.
Tickets cost Shs1,000 /= between Kampala and Nakawa, Kireka and Namboole, Shs1,500 /= between Kampala and Namanve and Shs2,500 /= for a return ticket between Kampala and Namanve.
