Nairobi railway network set for overhaul

[John Ashworth]

City railway network set for overhaul

By BOZO JENJE | Daily Nation
Posted Thursday, July 12 2012 at 20:58

IN SUMMARY

- Material for laying double track railway line between JKIA and city centre arrive in country

Construction material for double track express railway linking Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and the Nairobi Railway Station have been delivered.

The MV Feng Kang Shan docked on Thursday at the Port of Mombasa with over Sh340 million worth of materials for the construction of the 6.5km railway connecting JKIA to the main rail, bringing the dream of passengers connecting from city centre to the airport close to reality.

Transport Ministry Permanent Secretary Cyrus Njiru said the project will reduce the time taken to travel to the airport to between 15 and 30 minutes from the current two hours caused by traffic jams on Mombasa road.

He was speaking at the flagging off of the materials supplied by KEC International of India.

The PS said the programme is part of the Nairobi Commuter Rail (NCR) project — a Vision 2030 initiative under the integrated transport master plan developed by his ministry in conjunction with other government departments.

The project is being undertaken by Rift Valley Railways (RVR).

Mr Njiru received a consignment of 6,869 metric tonnes of rail bars, 10,000 sleepers and other rail accessories to be used in relaying about 70 kilometres of worn out rails between Mombasa and Nairobi, and the reconstruction of nine culverts between Tororo and Busembatia section in Uganda financed by the RVR shareholders and financial partners under a five-year turnaround programme.

[John Ashworth]

A post on the East_African_Steam Yahoo group from Maurice Barasa, Curator of Nairobi Railway Museum, in response to some queries:

Clarification. The Nairobi railway station renovations will not affect the original structural design. And only a half of it is being renovated to receive additional trains from new Syokimau line. KRC yesterday received new rails from India to be used to build a line linking Jomo Kenyatta Airport and Nairobi railway station. The government has given KRC about Ksh1.4 billion for this exercise. RVR also imported rails meant for repairing the Kenya-Uganda mainline through Malaba. Speeds will now increase from an average 30 KM to 70KM an hour. This is according to the RVR executive chairman, Brown Ondego. The matatus/vans in front of the Nairobi Railway station will afterall not be moved. A clear path for motorists who want to access the station has been created with barriers denying the matatus proximity to the station`s car parking bay.