Global EditionASIA 中文雙語Fran?ais
    World
    Home / World / Africa

    Kenya's economy on track, gathering steam

    China Daily | Updated: 2017-05-31 07:33
    Share
    Share - WeChat

    Kenyan students receive training on how to drive the train during a lesson with their Chinese teacher. The women will be among the first female train drivers in the African country's history. Xinhua

    China takes key role in African country's rail development

    NAIROBI - A railway built by the British government to tighten control over its African colony eventually played a part in ending its rule. This is one oddity Kenya's meter gauge railway has left for historians.

    In Nairobi's Railway Museum, Kenya's fond memories of its only operating railway are on display. The museum received more visitors recently as news of a Standard Gauge Railway to be opened soon sent curious locals here to find out "where they were, and where they are going" Curator Maurice Barasa said.

    The meter gauge, initially called the Uganda Railway, was built between 1896 and 1901, a time when the land had yet to acquire the name Kenya. For British colonists, it was a vast yet insignificant land that stood between them and the rich resources in Uganda.

    To open up Uganda, to tighten control over the "British East Africa" and to the then notorious slave trade, the British government decided to lay a rail line to link the port of Mombasa and Uganda. Yet investing heavily on a railway in Africa was deemed crazy by some British parliamentarians, one of whom wrote a poem calling the railway a "lunatic line".

    So this is how the nickname "lunatic line" came into being - created by misinformed British politicians, some of whom had never been to Africa and underestimated the continent's potential, said Barasa.

    Yet the sobriquet passed on for a number of reasons, including its extremely difficult construction by Indian workers sent to Kenya by the British authority.

    "It was a very hard process. There was no machinery to do the construction as we see now. They (workers) often used their bare hands to carry the rails and do the actual building," Barasa said.

    According to the museum, 2,493 workers had died by the time the 931-kilometer line finished construction, often prey to lions wandering in the savanna, tropical diseases like malaria and attacks by locals resisting the "iron snake" invasion.

    Chasing fun

    This would probably have surprised the British noblemen who later boarded the trains to chase fun as depicted in railway advertisements in the 1920s, one of which bid East Africa as "winter home for aristocrats" with a caricature showing a passenger playing with a lion like a pet cat.

    They may be even more astonished to learn of the railway's association with Kenya's independence. "Using the railway, nationalists were able to travel from one end of Kenya to the other to join political rallies to encourage Kenyans to fight for independence. It was also said people were using the railway to transport guns to those fighting for independence."

    Now, more than a century later, the East African country is expecting another railway to oil its economic take-off.

    The 480 km SGR, built by the China Road and Bridge Corp, began construction in 2014 with an investment of $3.8 billion, which is 90 percent funded by China's Exim Bank.

    The curator has high hopes for the faster new trains. "Quick movement of people and goods will help grow the economy by making it easier to sell and import goods. The SGR will also create many job opportunities, like signalers, drivers, engineers and crews ..." Barasa said.

    "This time, it is not a lunatic line. It is instead a very sane and intelligent line," he said.

    Xinhua

    Most Viewed in 24 Hours
    Top
    BACK TO THE TOP
    English
    Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
    License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

    Registration Number: 130349
    FOLLOW US
    亚洲中文字幕不卡无码| 亚洲欧美精品一区久久中文字幕| 中文字幕欧美日韩| 久久精品无码一区二区三区日韩 | 亚洲va中文字幕无码久久| 亚洲精品无码久久毛片| 亚洲av无码精品网站| 日本久久中文字幕| 色噜噜综合亚洲av中文无码| 精品久久久久久无码中文字幕一区 | 日本一区二区三区不卡视频中文字幕| 国产亚洲精久久久久久无码AV| 亚洲成A人片在线观看无码不卡| 人妻少妇精品中文字幕av蜜桃| 无码日韩精品一区二区人妻 | 精品无人区无码乱码毛片国产| 亚洲AV成人无码久久精品老人| 国产成人无码AV麻豆| 中文在线最新版天堂8| 中文字幕人妻色偷偷久久| 天堂AV无码AV一区二区三区| 国产久热精品无码激情| 日韩午夜福利无码专区a| 亚洲av无码一区二区三区不卡 | 久久久网中文字幕| 亚洲欧美日韩国产中文| 亚洲av中文无码乱人伦在线播放| 亚洲中文字幕伊人久久无码| 无码高清不卡| 最近2019中文免费字幕在线观看 | 亚洲AV中文无码乱人伦在线观看| 免费无遮挡无码视频在线观看| 好硬~好爽~别进去~动态图, 69式真人无码视频免 | 亚洲AV无码国产丝袜在线观看| 国产亚洲大尺度无码无码专线| 亚洲中文字幕丝袜制服一区| 欧美成人中文字幕在线看| 免费看无码特级毛片| 亚洲AV无码码潮喷在线观看| 免费无码一区二区三区| 2024你懂的网站无码内射|