About 50 kilometres of the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) track have been laid, setting the government on course to having the entire 609km ready by June next year.
Transport Principal Secretary Irungu Nyakera on Monday said that 60 per cent of civil works- which includes building bridges and earthworks- is complete.
The Sh427 billion SGR from Mombasa to Nairobi is expected to ease the cost of freight and passenger transport and cut the period taken between the two cities. The project is being undertaken by the China Roads and Bridge Corporation (CRBC).
“Very good progress has been made and we are going at a fast pace. We want by mid next year to be done with this one as we progress to the other side,” said Mr Nyakera.
The government late last year signed a contract with CRBC for construction of a 120km extension of the SGR to Naivasha in the Rift Valley.
Although the distance between Mombasa and Nairobi is 472km, the total track length that CRBC is doing is 609km, which includes areas where there’ll be parallel tracks.
Kenya has previously said the new railway will cut freight costs to 8 US cents a metric tonne (1.1 tonnes) per kilometre from the current 20 cents. Most cargo is currently hauled by road.
It is expected the line will increase the speed of freight trains from a maximum 40 kilometres per hour (kph) to 80kph. Passenger trains will be moving at a speed of 120kph, cutting down travel time considerably.
Fifty six locomotives which will be used to draw cargo and passenger trains are set to arrive in the country before the end of the year.
There will be 40 passenger coaches and 1,620 freight wagons which will be supplied by CRBC as part of the contract.
Documents by the Kenya Railways Corporation indicate that the track will be fenced out throughout its length except in set crossing points.
Construction of the seven stations along the line which include the Nairobi and Mombasa terminal stations has commenced.
PAYE Tax Calculator
Note: The results are not exact but very close to the actual.
