The idea to build the Kenya Standard Gauge Railway, more commonly referred to as the SGR, was conceived at an East African Commission (EAC) summit in 2004. The SGR was to be one of the flagship projects of the country’s ‘Vision 2030’ initiative. In particular, the goal is to expand Kenya’s railway transport system. This would be an improvement from the narrow metre-gauge Kenya-Uganda railway, which has a maximum capacity of five million tonnes. The new railway would have a wider track gauge. Known as the standard gauge it could accommodate 50% of the Mombasa Port’s freight cargo, that is, 25 million tonnes.
The portion of the SGR that would be in Kenya was to be constructed in two phases. Phase I was mapped out to be 480 km and would run alongside the old Kenya-Uganda Railway. Phase II was divided into three sections. They would run from Nairobi to Naivasha, Naivasha to Kisumu and Kisumu to Malaba in Uganda.
Actual construction only began in 2015, which was around 85 years since work on the Kenya-Uganda Railway had been completed. This begs the question, what happened to the old railway line during all that time?
The Fate of the ‘Lunatic Line’
As the political landscape of East Africa shifted, so did the management of the Kenya-Uganda Railway; it changed hands from one corporation to another throughout the 20th century.
This sequence began in May 1948, when the Kenya and Uganda Railways and Harbours was merged with Tanganyika Railway and became the East Africa Railways and Harbours Corporation (EAR&H). Later on, in 1977, the East Africa Commission broke down. As a result, East Africa Railways Corporation was dissolved. Soon after, on 20th Jan 1978, Kenya Railways Corporation was established, replacing the old corporation in its role of overseeing the management of the portion of the railway that runs through Kenya. Later on, in 2006, the Rift Valley Railways won the bid to manage the railway, but in 2017, Kenya Railways Corporation brought the contract to an end and administration reverted to them.
Unfortunately, despite all the resources put into it over the course of a century, the Kenya-Uganda Railway fell into disrepair and it could no longer serve the needs of the country’s fast-growing economy. Hence the need for the Standard Gauge Railway.
Present-Day Controversies
Just like the original line, controversy plagued the SGR. However, this time, the tables were turned as it is locals who were sceptical of the project’s financing rather than British parliamentarians. There were protests against the railway’s construction by conservationists rather than freedom fighters.
A railway that would connect the six countries in the Great Lakes Region: Uganda, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi, the Republic of Congo and, of course, Kenya, was an ambitious initiative and, to some, one that seemed too good to be true.
When reports of the project’s contractors and financiers reached the local population: that is, the China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) and the Export-Import Bank of China (China Eximbank), respectively, many were up in arms due to concerns over the country’s external debts. On top of this, environmentalists were alarmed to learn that the railway would run through the Nairobi National Park. They argued that this would have adverse impacts on the park’s ecosystem.
Madaraka Express, Bila Stress!
Despite the objections to it, construction of the SGR went ahead and Phase I was completed in 2017. The Madaraka Express, the passenger train which runs between Nairobi Terminus and the Mombasa Terminus, earned its name from the day it was first opened to the public – 1st June 2017, the 54th anniversary of Madaraka Day.
Like its predecessor, the SGR is expected to change administrative hands. The China Communications Construction Company Limited (CCCC), whose operational department is the Africa Star Railway Operation Company (Afristar), is its first administrator. However, management is expected to be gradually handed over to the Kenya Railways Corporation throughout the 2020s.
The fate of the SGR remains in question. As of January 2023, only the Nairobi-Naivasha section of Phase II has been completed. Nonetheless, the impact of the line is already being felt by Kenyans. It is no doubt that travel between the coast and the hinterland has never been faster and easier!
