There are a number of systems of transport in Burundi, including road and water-based infrastructure, the latter of which makes use of

Lake Tanganyika Lake Tanganyika ( ; ) is an African Great Lakes, African Great Lake. It is the world's List of lakes by volume, second-largest freshwater lake by volume and the List of lakes by depth, second deepest, in both cases after Lake Baikal in Siberia. ...

. Furthermore, there are also some airports in

Burundi Burundi, officially the Republic of Burundi, is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is located in the Great Rift Valley at the junction between the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa, with a population of over 14 million peop ...

. Burundi has limited ferry services on Lake Tanganyika, few road connections to neighboring countries, no rail connections, and only one airport with a paved runway. Public transport is extremely limited and private bus companies operate buses on the route to Kigali, Uganda, Tanzania and Democratic Republic of Congo.Bus Planet, Buses in Burundi, http://www.bus-planet.com/bus/bus-africa/Burundi-site/index.html

Roads

Roads total as of 2004. On paper, there are 90 public buses in the country but few of these are operational. Transport is extremely limited, and private bus companies operate buses on the route to Kigali, Uganda, Tanzania or the Democratic Republic of Congo.

Waterways

is used for transport, with the major

port A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Hamburg, Manch ...

on the lake being the Port of Bujumbura. Most freight is transported down waterways. As of May 2015, MV Mwongozo, a passenger and cargo ferry, connects Bujumbura with Kigoma in Tanzania.

Airports and air services

Burundi possesses eight airports, of which one has paved

runway In aviation, a runway is an elongated, rectangular surface designed for the landing and takeoff of an aircraft. Runways may be a human-made surface (often asphalt concrete, asphalt, concrete, or a mixture of both) or a natural surface (sod, ...

s, whose length exceeds 3,047m.

Bujumbura International Airport Melchior Ndadaye International Airport is an airport in Bujumbura, the former capital of Burundi. It is Burundi's only international airport and the only one with a paved runway. History The airport was opened in 1952. On 1 July 2019, the airp ...

is the country's primary airport and the country's only airport with a paved runway. There are also a number of helicopter landing strips. As of May 2015, the airlines serving Burundi are: Brussels Airlines, Ethiopian Airlines, flydubai,

Kenya Airways Kenya Airways Ltd., more commonly known as Kenya Airways, is the flag carrier airline of Kenya. The company was founded in 1977, after the dissolution of East African Airways. Its head office is located in Embakasi, Nairobi, with its Airline hu ...

, and RwandAir.

Kigali Kigali () is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Rwanda. It is near the nation's geographic centre in a region of rolling hills, with a series of valleys and ridges joined by steep slopes. As a primate city, Kigali is a relativ ...

is the city with the most daily departures.

Railways

Burundi does not possess any

railway Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

infrastructure, although there are proposals to connect Burundi to its neighbours via railway. At a meeting in August 2006 with members of the Rwanda Patriotic Front, Wu Guanzheng, of the

Chinese Communist Party The Communist Party of China (CPC), also translated into English as Chinese Communist Party (CCP), is the founding and One-party state, sole ruling party of the People's Republic of China (PRC). Founded in 1921, the CCP emerged victorious in the ...

, confirmed the intention of

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

to fund a study into the feasibility of constructing a railway connecting at Isaka with the existing

Tanzania Tanzania, officially the United Republic of Tanzania, is a country in East Africa within the African Great Lakes region. It is bordered by Uganda to the northwest; Kenya to the northeast; the Indian Ocean to the east; Mozambique and Malawi to t ...

n railway network, and running via

Rwanda Rwanda, officially the Republic of Rwanda, is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley of East Africa, where the African Great Lakes region and Southeast Africa converge. Located a few degrees south of the Equator, Rwanda is bordered by ...

through to Burundi. Tanzanian railways use , although TAZARA and other neighbouring countries, including the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

(DRC) use the gauge, leading to some potential difficulties. Another project was launched in the same year, which aims to link Burundi and Rwanda (which also has no railways) to the DRC and

Zambia Zambia, officially the Republic of Zambia, is a landlocked country at the crossroads of Central Africa, Central, Southern Africa, Southern and East Africa. It is typically referred to being in South-Central Africa or Southern Africa. It is bor ...

, and therefore to the rest of Southern Africa. At a meeting to inaugurate the Northern Corridor Transit and Transport Coordination Authority (NCTTCA), the governments of Uganda and Burundi backed the proposed new railway from the Ugandan western railhead at

Kasese Kasese is a town in the Western Region, Uganda, Western Region of Uganda. It is the capital of Kasese District. Kasese is also the largest town in the Rwenzururu region. In 2020 it had an estimated population 115,400. It lies north of Lake Georg ...

into the DRC. Additionally, Burundi has been added to a planned railway project to connect Tanzania and Rwanda. In January 2022, the governments of Burundi and Tanzania announced the planned construction of an electrified standard gauge railway, which will link the two countries. The line is known as the Tanzania–Burundi Standard Gauge Railway.

2013

A project started in November 2013 to build a

Standard Gauge A standard-gauge railway is a railway with a track gauge of . The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson), international gauge, UIC gauge, uniform gauge, normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the ...

line from

Mombassa Mombasa ( ; ) is a coastal city in southeastern Kenya along the Indian Ocean. It was the first capital of British East Africa, before Nairobi was elevated to capital status in 1907. It now serves as the capital of Mombasa County. The town is ...

, Kenya, to Burundi, via Rwanda and Uganda.Kenya launches new railway to reach South Sudan and Burundi
BBC News, 28 November 2013. The main line from Mombasa will also feature branches in other directions, including Ethiopia and DR Congo.

External links

UN Map of BurundiMap of railways in southern Africa

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Transport In Burundi