CRBC President Lu Shan said the institution will be key in developing local capacity to manage the modern Standard Gauge Railway.
So far 60 Kenyan students have been offered scholarship to pursue various railway and train-related engineering courses in Chinese universities.
Kenya Railways has received another batch of locomotives, which consists of three passenger trains, eight passenger coaches and 120 open-top wagons.
China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has granted Kenya Sh1 billion for development of an engineering institute at the Railway Training School.
CRBC President Lu Shan said the institution will be key in developing local capacity to manage the modern Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) that will be commissioned in June.
He said the country was training engineers to take over when the Chinese leave after completion of the project.
So far 60 Kenyan students have been offered scholarship to pursue various railway and train-related engineering courses in Chinese universities while 300 technicians trained by CRBC at the Railway Training Institute are currently attached to the SGR project.
Mr Shan said this when he paid President Uhuru Kenyatta a visit at State House, Nairobi, to brief him on progress on the first phase of the SGR that runs from Mombasa to Nairobi.
Also briefing Mr Kenyatta on the project during a quarterly meeting, Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said 99 per cent of the civil works were complete, with the rail tracks already laid from Mombasa to Nairobi South.
Mr Kenyatta commended the pace and underscored the importance of the project in transforming the country’s transport sector.
The meeting was also attended by China Communications Construction Company Vice President Chen Yun.
Mr Macharia pointed out that Phase One of the SGR was about to be completed, with Sh15 billion having been paid out as land compensation.
He said Sh84 billion has been used under local content with people living along the railway line getting direct employment while others have benefited through the delivery of goods and services to the project.
The meeting also discussed phase 1B which will run from Nairobi through Naivasha to Narok where mobilisation has started, with land acquisition and construction set to begin in April. Construction of the SGR section along the Nairobi National Park is set to commence next month after completion of the survey and technical work. The work had stalled after conservationists opposed plans to route the railway across the park.
Kenya Railways last year signed an agreement with the KWS and the National Land Commission, allowing it to realign the path of the line.
This was to avoid a huge compensation bill for industries and residential estates in Mlolongo and Athi River that were on the original route.
Meanwhile, Kenya Railways has received another batch of locomotives, which consists of three passenger trains, eight passenger coaches and 120 open-top wagons, which arrived at the Port of Mombasa last week.
The corporation has so far received eight freight haulage heavy duty locomotives for main line use out of the total expected 43, two shunting locomotives out of the eight on order and 330 wagons out of the total order of 1,620.
The passenger locomotives and wagons have all been delivered as expected alongside five passenger locomotives and forty passenger coaches.
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