China’s ‘Ghost Railway’ Pulls up Short of Promises in East Africa

In 2014, when the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) began building the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Kenya, Beijing said the project would be one of its greatest achievements under its Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). The Chinese Communist Party had launched the BRI just a year before, promising massive infrastructure builds that would revitalize stagnant economies across the world, including in Africa. It said the SGR would eventually link the entire East African region, including Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. These countries have traditionally used trucks to ferry goods between one another. But East Africa’s roads are notoriously poor, so products take a long time to reach markets … if they ever do, given the high rate of road accidents....