KENYA STANDARD GAUGE RAILWAY NAIROBI TO MOMBASA/ KENYAN SGR

The standard-gauge railway (SGR) is the fastest train Kenya has ever seen. It operates at an average of 75 miles per hour. This is nearly double the speed of the country’s only other train line, the now-defunct Kenya-Uganda Railway, built in the 1890s during the colonial era. As if to emphasize the point, the SGR opened 18 months ahead of schedule on May 31, 2017, the anniversary of Kenya’s self-rule, Madaraka Day. The train line, which has been labeled the Madaraka Express, has been sold out every day since.
The passenger train runs between Kenya’s capital city, Nairobi, and the Indian Ocean port city of Mombasa; the trip takes five hours. The train provides a much-needed alternative to buses, which can take up to 11 hours to shuttle between the two cities. Traveling by bus means enduring a relentlessly bumpy ride over potholed highways. Also, Kenya has one of the highest road-death rates in the world, so there’s the very real potential for being among the casualties of a passing cargo truck.
The railway was primarily built to ease the transport of over 20 million tons of imports, which arrive every year at Mombasa’s ports and are hauled, mainly on those passing cargo trucks, to destinations around Kenya and as far away as the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda.
Despite its obvious benefits, the new train line, which is the country’s most expensive infrastructure project to date, is controversial. In 2014 President Uhuru Kenyatta signed a $3.8 billion contract with the China Road and Bridge Corporation, a state-owned construction company, to build phase 1 of a railway that will eventually extend to Uganda, Rwanda, South Sudan, and Ethiopia. The disputes started almost immediately: over financing, land acquisition, and the project’s environmental impact.
Finally, the line runs through two national parks. Conservationists have voiced concerns over animal safety in Tsavo National Park, where a large embankment has threatened elephants’ migration routes.
The new train runs once a day in each direction, and when I purchase same-day tickets on a rainy Friday morning in Nairobi, I feel that I have accomplished the impossible. Tickets only become available three days in advance of departure and are only sold at the train station. (An online booking system is still in the works.)
The Nairobi train station is 11.5 miles from the city center. When I arrive at the station in early August, throngs of people are lined up outside, their luggage in rows next to them. Station security paces up and down as guard dogs sniff at our luggage. Security measures are heightened in anticipation of the upcoming general elections on Aug. 8; elections have caused concern ever since 2007 when post-election violence caused the deaths of more than 1,000 people and displaced hundreds of thousands.

Inside the train, passengers are seated in wide red seats. At the front of the car, placards depicting the flags of Kenya and China hang side by side. An announcement comes over the sound system, warning parents to watch their children as train speeds will be quite high and the dangers of running through carriages may not be immediately apparent to first-time riders. Then “Chandelier” by Sia begins playing. I look out the window as the train passes through Athi River, the town where the first of the train’s seven intermediate stations are located.
Three-quarters of the way to Mombasa, an announcement comes over the train’s sound system, telling us that we’re entering Tsavo National Park. We might see elephants, zebras, and giraffes, the voice says, as though we are on an amusement park ride. Some people, such as my neighbor Simiyu, respond excitedly. Standing up, he looks out for elephants and spots many in the distance.
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Great video. SGR has indeed boosted interconnectivity between Mombasa and Nairobi with people traveling to and fro each city more than ever day or night, unlike in the past when people relied on road travel that could take double the time.