The Standard Gauge Railway, which is being launched on 31st May, will run daily passenger trips between Nairobi and Mombasa, even though the fares are not as low as many would have expected. Many Kenyans had hoped to pay half of the average PSV.
Buses on the route charge about Ksh1,200 for economy, Ksh1,800 for VIP, and Ksh2,300 for business class.
The passenger train services between Nairobi and Mombasa will cost Ksh900 for economy class and Ksh3,000 for first class. The passenger service named, Madaraka Express, will operate two types of train services: the intercity Train and the County train.
Two of the trains, one from Mombasa and the other from Nairobi, will run a daily express service between the two cities.
The third train will be an inter-county operation that will stop subject to passenger availability at the stations along the line. The intercity train is an express train between Nairobi and Mombasa and the County train will make stops at the intermediate stations at Mariakani, Voi, Emali, Kibwezi, Mtoto Andei and Athi River.
The tickets will be electronic, enabling the personnel running the inter-county train to schedule the stops, according to information from the planners. The Nairobi-Mombasa train has a capacity of 1,200 people with one round trip planned in the initial stage. More trips will be added subject to demand of the service.
President Uhuru Kenyatta will launch the rail service on Wednesday in Mombasa, a project built by the Chinese to a tune of Ksh327 billion, and thereafter embark on its maiden journey to Nairobi.
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There are seven main stations on the line and more than 30 smaller ones which the Government says will benefit local residents. This is meant to make SGR competitive against buses plying the Nairobi-Mombasa route.
“The three trains will run daily for the first three years but if there is a need to add others, we will do so according to capacity. As the urban centres along the SGR grow, then the hinterlands around them will get a ripple effect,” Transport Principal Secretary Paul Mwangi said.
The cargo train will be offloaded Wednesday at the inland container terminal in Nairobi. President Uhuru Kenyatta, accompanied by all the Cabinet secretaries, some MPs, a Chinese delegation, and 1,200 students from schools representing Kenya’s 47 counties, will take the maiden ride.
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The train will leave Mombasa at 8am, making stops at the seven main stations for commissioning before arriving in Nairobi at 4pm.
The charges for containerized cargo from the Port of Mombasa to the Inland Container Depot in Nairobi are set at Ksh50,000 per TEU. Other freight will be charged at 0.07 per ton kilometer translating to Ksh32,800. This will result in a 40 percent decline in the cost of cargo transport in comparison to the Ksh80,000 to Ksh90,000 cost of transporting goods by road between Mombasa and Nairobi.
In addition, the time taken to transport goods will reduce from the current 16 to 24 hours to a maximum of 8 hours.
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The train will initially offer two classes of passengers — economy and business class — but will launch its premier class by December this year.
Some 40 passenger coaches will initially be procured, with a capacity of 118 travellers for the economy class, 72 for business class, and 44 for first class.
By December, the operator of the train service, a Chinese consortium called China Communications Construction Company, plans to offer two types of passenger services.
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