When the multibillion shilling investment was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta and the China Road and Bridge Corporation, many were skeptical of the train’s usability, with some citing the fares were too high.
When the SGR clocked 1,000 days of operations, impressive figures indicated that both the passenger and cargo services are ticking all the right boxes.
The Madaraka Express passenger service transported more than 4.2 million passengers over the period, highlighting the high popularity of the SGR as the transport mode of choice.
Operations further clocked 1,000 days without any injuries or loss of lives on the line, with Africa Star revealing that safety specialists had inspected the entire SGR operations network 269 times as of February 24, 2020.
To ensure passengers are sensitized on fostering safety culture while on board trains, the company says, conspicuous safety notices have been put inside the trains while train crews are ever present.
The 472km Nairobi-Mombasa SGR route, a towering flagship project of President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration, has revolutionized passenger transport in the country.
The SGR has greatly helped reduce the number of trucks on the accident-prone Nairobi-Mombasa highway, saving motorists the pain of enduring the infamous Mariakani weighbridge snarl-up that trapped people in traffic for hours.
Before the SGR, at least 95 per cent of cargo was being moved by road, with over 1,600 loaded trucks plying the Mombasa-Malaba route.
