Uganda opens its first-ever Railway Museum

Uganda: First time in the history of Uganda and second time in East Africa that they are opening a railway museum in Jinja (Uganda). 

The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda (CCFU) does the museum’s foundation in partnership with the Uganda Railway Cooperation (URC). Even the European Union and SOGEA-SATOM are supporting them. 

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Located along the Jinja-Iganga highway at the railway station in Jinja City, the museum is going to increase the range of tourists in Uganda, both locals and foreigners.

The design is imprinted while focusing on youngsters, and they also focus on their learning, which is the most significant appreciation in Uganda’s history. 

The Uganda Railway Museum will provide various programmes, including heritage theme nights, exploring a locomotive and coach, film recollections/stories, photographs, guided tours and access to a cafeteria. 

According to H.E.’ Attilio Pacifici’, the Head of the European Union Delegation to Uganda, Caroline Adriaensesn, the Head of cooperation, stated that “you would get a significant number of opportunities in the museum to recognise and appreciate the history of the railway in Uganda. The major part of the museum is the “role” in the lives of Ugandans who lived and worked along with them and their place in the country’s political and economic development.”

Adriaensen stated that the European Union is pleased in a bid to support the regeneration of this crucial infrastructure and an essential piece of our collective memory in Uganda. 

As per the statement of Uganda officials Railway Cooperation, in the Museum, Uganda plays a fundamental role in the economic and post-colonial development of the country in terms of bringing communities together, allowing access to education and other facilities, and cementing national consciousness. 

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The introduction of the railways in Uganda followed the August 1895 Bill in the British Parliament, authorising the construction of a railway from Mombasa to the shores of Lake Victoria. This marked the start of the Uganda Railway, which eventually expanded to Pakwach in the north and Kasese in the west.

However, Uganda’s railway has been unused or underused for the past many years, with their historical artefacts such as their equipment, engines, and carriages and buildings such as stations and workers’ cottages falling into disrepair. 

The government of Uganda is putting their whole efforts in order to rebuild the railway transport with the rehabilitation of the northern line and the construction of the Standard Gauge Railway. 

The Cross-Cultural Foundation of Uganda’s installation of the Uganda Railways Museum is premised on their previous works on railway history in Uganda.

According to CCFU’s Executive director, ‘Barbra Babweteera Mutambi’, the installation shows the foundation’s commitment to safeguarding historic buildings, sites, and monuments. 

Babweteera added, “We have always supported safeguarding historic buildings, sites, and monuments, but museums give us a chance to show the general public how to preserve a historic building sustainability.”

About Museums:

The museum will open for the public starting today, Thursday, March 17 and will be free to the general public until Monday, March 21, 2022.

After that, the museum will always be open to the general public from Tuesdays to Sundays, and timings of the museums will be fixed, and that is 11:00 am – 6:00 pm at a fee.