Firm ships in six locomotives for use on the new railway

China’s CRRC Corporation has shipped six diesel locomotives to Kenya earmarked for cargo and passenger transport on the Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway line.

Kenya Railways chief executive Athanas Maina confirmed that the company’s plant in Qishuyan has shipped in the locomotives which are part of the 56 ordered by the contractor, China Road and Bridge Construction (CRBS).

In a statement, CRRC Corporation said all locomotives will be delivered on time for trials ahead of the planned July 2017 commissioning.

“CRBC are set to begin trials for safety, efficiency and speed starting February to June when they will hand over the project to us. Everything is going as per schedule and the railway is 92 per cent complete. We are using heavy duty locomotives to ferry materials to various sites under construction,” Mr Maina said.

The CEO said 1,620 freight wagons ordered in May this year were also under construction.

The passenger locomotives which will have a capacity of carrying 1,096 passengers will see the 12-hour road journey reduced to a mere four as the new trains will cruise at a speed of 120 kilometres per hour.

The freight locomotives, which are each expected to haul 216 TEUs weighing an estimated 4,000 tonnes per trip, will see haulage of cargo on the SGR rise by 22 million tonnes annually.

This is equivalent to taking 4,644 trucks off the road once the 43 freight trains come into operation.
Mr Maina said that initially the locomotives will be diesel-driven but will be upgradable to electric mode once a reliable source of electricity is ascertained.

The CEO said that upon inauguration of the new railway, China Communications Construction Company will operate the line for the next five years, during which period Kenyan engineers and technicians will be trained to man operations.