A SECRET RAILWAY LINE THAT NEVER WAS
In october 1939, one month after the outbreak of world war ll a secret railway line was suggested to the railway by the British government.
It was planned to start at Thika on the Nairobi-Nanyuki branch line and its terminus was to be at Garba Tula roughly halfway between northern branch of the Tana River and Uaso Nyiro.
The secret railway line was given a non committal title "The Thika Branch "and the few members of staff who knew of the scheme were forced to take an oath of secrecy.
A confidential note dated 18th November 1940 and circulated under the signature of the then chief Engineer of the Kenya Uganda Railways and Harbours read:-
"Work will shortly commence on a line from Thika .The work is for the military and should not ,on any account be disclosed to the public.
“In corresponce the heading 'The Thika Branch 'must be used and the fact that it is military work must not be mentioned.”
The objective of the project was to build a railway which would enable troops from kenya to reach the main road to Wajir and then penetrate into Italian Somaliland.
And it was informed by the fact that in order for the British to mount a successful offensive against the Italians then efficient lines of communication and sufficient transport had to be the vital factors.
Kenya Uganda railway was therefore called upon to build this new line some 215 miles in length through grim country and rugged terrain as quickly as possible.
Mr H.F. Birchal was appointed the resident Engineer for the project and forced labour was provided from Uganda Tanganyika and parts of Kenya.
By the end of 1940 a force of 2000 men was hard at work.
And by the end of January 1941 the labour force had increased to 3800 .In February the South African Engineers Corps sent out one company to assist with bridges ,another to assist with plate laying and a third one to construct the Tana Bridge.
The labour supply reached its peak of 7200 and by the end of the month the total work done amounted to :
Preliminary survey…200 miles
Staked out line…130 miles
Earthworks completed…63 miles
Track laid…9.5 miles
In addition two large bridges were completed and several others were under construction.
However the construction of the bridge across the Tana River presented quite a problem in that it was estimated an opening of nearly 100 feet was required to take flood waters.
The construction of the bridge was well in hand when on March 5th an Unseasonable heavy rain fell in the Tana river drainage area washing away in 2 hours all the work that had been done .
Ten men were drowned and about one hundred ,spent 24 hours in trees before they could be rescued .
The flood subsided almost as rapidly as it came and a fresh start was made .But by now events elsewhere had a far reaching effect on the entire project.
General Cunningham who was in command of the troops in East Africa was not ready to wait any longer to move his men and equipment by train.
He assembled a great fleet of motor transport and built it up into a vicious striking force .
From Garissa and Boa on the Tana River the advance was mounted and first across the frontier of Italian Somaliland border at Liboi were units of Kings African Rifles and South African armoured cars.
The Royal Air Force and the South African Air Force working in close partnership achieved complete mastery of the skies .
And within a few weeks the battle that routed the Italian army ,restored the sovereignity of Ethiopia and quashed the power of Italy in Eastern Africa was over.
On March 5 1941 a cryptic telegraph message was despatched from the Chief Engineer to the resident Engineer at Thika ,it stated simply:
“Stop all work on plate laying and bridge building ,if possible come and see me tomorrow.”
The sudden stopping of the work at its peak ,required almost as long to close as it did to assemble.
Nearly 4000 departmental labourers had to be repatriated to their various homes in 100 different districts extending as far as 1000 miles from Thika .
Most of them could only be sent in small batches and during the period of waiting they were employed to pick up the permanent way that had been laid ,making roads in the reserve, dismantling camps and filling up burrow pits .
It was not until the end of May 1941 that the last batch of labourers could be repatriated .
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