Economy

Building of new railway begins next month

RAIL

Quarry plant for the standard gauge railway project. PHOTO | FILE

Construction of the new Mombasa -Nairobi railway will start next month as the contractor completes building camps and raw material factories this week.

Two factories—at Kathekani and Emali — that will be used for production of the rail, reinforced concrete sleepers, ballast and beams for bridge construction will be ready by end month.

“Sleepers production is expected to start on December 28 and we expect to be ready for T-beams production by end of December,” said Anne Chenghao, communications officer at the Kathekani Factory near Mtito Andei.

Sleepers are the blocks that hold the rail track to the ground while T-beams are used to reinforce bridges. The two factories are part of 21 construction camps that the contractor, China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), has set up along the line that will cost Sh447.5 billion including financing costs.

The railway, whose completion date has been brought forward to June 2017 from 2018, will reduce freight costs to eight US cents per tonne per kilometre from the present average of 20 US cents.

The new railway line will ferry heavier and bigger containers fast and would relieve pressure on the region’s congested roads, increasing Kenya’s competitiveness as an investment destination.

READ: Treasury to receive funds for building railway in 2 weeks

The 472km line has been divided into eight sections whose construction CRBC will undertake concurrently to speed up the works. The two factories are also expected to lay the rail line while the other 19 camps are tasked with earthworks and construction of bridges.

Bridges will account for 30km of the 472km railway line and will be used to span valleys, cross roads and at points when the standard gauge railway (SGR) crosses the existing metre gauge railway line.

This will include a 2km bridge over the Tsavo River. “At Tsavo National Park, we will be building eight corridors for elephants to pass under the line. These will be seven metres high and 50 metres long each,” said Maxwell Mengich, SGR project manager for Kenya Railways.

CRBC had contracted 5,377 workers by end of November and the jobs are expected to rise in coming months as the works pick up.