Airport-like Nairobi railway terminal almost complete – PHOTOS
The new Nairobi railway terminal is set to be opened in a few months in readiness for commissioning of the standard gauge railway on June 1.
The equipment in the controll room of the ultra-modern station has already been fitted.
Kenya Railways has in the past weeks been testing the speeds of locomotives to be used to ferry passengers between Nairobi and Mombasa.
From the control room to the signage, to the tiles, you can see a touch of class not witnessed in any other project in Kenya.
The railway is expected to shorten travel time from Mombasa to Nairobi to a little more than four hours. Freight trains will complete the journey in less than eight hours.
Kenya Railways MD Atanas Maina has previously said there will be two categories of trains – the intercity, which will stop only at Mtito Andei travelling at a speed of 100 kilometres per hour and county trains which will stop at all the seven passenger stations and will move at a speed of 85 kilometres per hour.
The stations are at Mariakani, Miasenyi, Voi, Mtito Andei, Kibwezi, Emali and Athi River.
When completed, the railway is expected to carry up to one million passengers annually, with two pairs of trains running daily for four years.
Construction of the 609km-long line began in October 2013 and is scheduled to be completed by December 2017.
The Mombasa-Nairobi phase of the project is estimated to cost Sh340bn ($3.8bn). China Exim Bank provided 90% of the financing while the remaining 10% was contributed by the Kenyan Government.
