Transport

Launch of SGR cargo train service put off to December

Sgr-launch

SGR locomotives and passenger coaches. FILE PHOTO | NMG

Kenya has pushed the start of the standard gauge train cargo service to December, giving a temporary relieve to truckers and container freight station (CFS) investors.

Transport Principal Secretary Paul Maringa said direct cargo haulage of the SGR’s portion of the port’s one million-a-year containers to Nairobi inland container depots (ICD) will start by end year. “The freight uptake via SGR will considerably increase rail transport capacity once the operations commence in December 2017, and in accordance with the commitment made in the Mombasa Port Community Charter, signed in June 2014,” said Prof Maringa. Truckers and CFSs, which have thrived on congestion at the port, have previously raised concern over survival of their businesses in the era of fast trains.

Officials say that SGR trains have capacity to clear Mombasa’s cargo population at a rate of 1,000 containers per day.

According to Kenya Railways, the country has received 25 freight locomotives out of the 43 on order. It has also received 763 wagons out of the 1,620 units ordered for.

The 25-tonne axle flat wagons can each carry a payload of 70 tonnes, implying 113,4000 tonnes can be hauled if all of them are deployed on a single trip to Nairobi.

The trains are designed to run at a speed of 120 km per hour but will move at a lower speed of 80 km per hour, covering the 472km to Nairobi in just under six hours.

The Kenya Ports Authority (KPA) has since said it will initially allocate just 40 per cent of its yard containers, about 400,000 per year or 33,333 per month, to the SGR trains.

The containers will from December be moved by SGR to the Nairobi ICDs for clearance and subsequent transportation to local factories and shops as well as neighbouring countries of Uganda, South Sudan, Tanzania, Rwanda, Burundi and DRC Congo.

Kenya Railway’s SGR project manager Maxwell Mengich said the ICDs’ capacity had been expanded from 180,000 to 450,000 containers ready to handle increased cargo, with relevant state agencies placed on a unified IT platform for a seamless cargo clearance portal.

CUT STORAGE COSTS

According to KPA boss Catherine Mturi, a new container terminal with capacity to handle 550,000 containers has also been completed with the Kipevu Oil Terminal set for relocation to enhance safety and increase its capacity to 200,000 containers daily.

Ms Mturi welcomed the SGR facility saying it will held reduce the speed of cargo offloading from ships from the current seven days.

This will cut storage costs paid by cargo owners to private freight stations strewn around the port which were initially licensed to help ease congestion.

Ship operators had earlier introduced delay charges amounting to Sh100,000 per day upon expiry of the one week waiting time.

In a news dispatch Kenya Railways said track trials for passenger locomotives had been completed, adding that five trains were able to drive at 160 kilometres per hour but will only be allowed to do 120 kilomere per hour upon commissioning on June 1.

Each train will shuttle coaches carrying 1,096 passengers along the route shortening the 12 hour journey to a paltry four and a half.

The agency said that it was carrying our tests on cargo locomotives to ascertain their suitability to haul containers.

The SGR has 33 crossings and seven passenger stations.

Crossing preference will be given to freight trains to achieve shorter transit times.