In 1901 Kenya’s first railway line reached Nairobi. At the time Nairobi CBD was a little more than a railway depot with a few homes scattered around for railways workers by surrounded a few bomas of its first inhabitants. It was a major achievement that had cost the lives of many but ultimately ended up defining a nation and its capital.
For over a century the “Lunatic Express” was the only train line that served the country and provided linkages from coast to capital. As the decades rolled by, the road and air network opened up augmenting the train system, however with declining investment the trusty old line fell into disuse in major parts of the country and breakdowns became a repetitive occurrence on working lines.
In 2014 an ambitious new project was kicked off to build a new railway network, one that was more attuned to the needs of the country in the 21st century.
On May 31st 2017, Kenya launched phase one of the Standard Gauge Railway. Plenty is indeed found within our borders! This 472 km track runs from our capital city, Nairobi, to our largest coastal town of Mombasa. The project was completed after much toil three years later when the first fare-paying commuters boarded the “Madaraka Express” on June 1, 2017. Like its predecessor the Madaraka Express has gotten its fair share of criticisms – in fact almost the same ones as over a hundred years ago!
Yet the above is to serve as a reminder that in the grand scheme of things, with this project, could come great tidings for East Africa.‘The Lunatic Express’ now gives way to ‘the Madaraka Express’ whose gauge is wider allowing it to accommodate larger modern day trains than the 1m wide, original meter gauge railway. This wider gauge is considered standard because 55% of the world’s trains are of this construct. Kenya now joins the ranks of nations with a modern rail system.
The time taken to travel to Mombasa on the SGR is just under four hours as opposed to double the time by bus or the 14 hour overnight train trip of yesteryear. Millions of commuters have greatly benefited from the four passenger trains, and the demand is evidenced by the many days the large terminus’ boarding area is packed to capacity. An average of 4000 passengers use the train daily and at peak times this reaches a maximum of 5040 people. Another way to consider the impact of this number is thousands of people each day who are not on the road which ultimately makes the road safer. In addition thirty freight trains which transport cargo from Kilindini port, into the city and vice versa means there are fewer heavy cargo trucks, thus bringing down the cost of road maintenance.
Unlike the old line the SGR railway track uses a Super Bridge which was designed to be high enough for the majestic giraffe to pass under and in the Tsavo tunnels run underneath for wildlife to criss cross the expansive national park.
We remember 2017 as the historic year that the Standard Gauge Railway was first launched in our nation. It is in the spirit of development, Africa on the rise, that we celebrate this feat and look to becoming more interconnected as a region. Places that are hours and hours away by road or even altogether inaccessible, will soon become a station or two’s commute.
