Kenyan metre gauge rail set to link Miritini with SGR

[John Ashworth]

Metre gauge rail set to link Miritini with SGR

Mombasa residents using the standard gauge railway (SGR) will from August this year be boarding trains at the Mombasa town railway terminus in a bid to reduce traffic on the road. Miritini SGR terminus will be connected to a metre gauge rail to allow travellers to board at the Mombasa terminus. Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said the Mombasa-Miritini commuter train will be introduced after completing Makupa Bridge...

A positive move, but it should never have been necessary. One has to ask why the SGR could not have continued into Mombasa Station in the first place, on a raised viaduct above the old metre gauge right of way. Very short-sighted, like much of the SGR, including its failure to reach further west than Suswa and the original decision that it should be diesel powered. The imminent introduction of Tanzania's electric SGR makes the latter look even more wrong-headed.