Kiss traffic jams goodbye, a train station is next door
Traffic congestion on Mombasa Road and parts of Eastlands is to be eased once two modern railway stations at Makadara and Imara Daima are opened next week.
The stations have large parking spaces, security, lighting, food courts, shopping outlets, restaurants as well as advertising spaces.
Kenya Railways corporate affairs officer, Ms Margret Kawira said Makadara will be an interchange station expected to serve more than 5,000 commuters every day.
The station’s parking lot can accommodate about 150 cars.
“It will serve residents who use Jogoo Road from Buruburu, Makadara, Donholm and nearby estates,” she told NairobiNews on Wednesday.
Cheaper and faster
Imara Daima will be a transit station and will be expected to serve more than 2,000 commuters daily and providing a parking space of about 200 vehicles.
“Residents who frequently use Mombasa Road from Imara Daima, Embakasi North, City Cabanas and surrounding areas will benefit a lot from this station,” she said.
Motorists will be given the opportunity to park their cars at the two stations and board the train to and from the City centre.
She said Kenya Railways planned to add more coaches because the number of passengers will go up with time.
“We are working on increasing the number of carriages before the stations are officially opened next week,” she said.
She said using the train was cheaper and faster. The fare from Embakasi to the CBD is only Sh40.
She added that plans were underway to have new train schedules that will be of convenience to the majority. The Syokimau and Embakasi trains will be stopping at the new stations.
The stations are part of the Sh24 billion Nairobi Metropolitan transport project that aims at reducing commuting time and easing traffic jams in accordance to Vision 2030.
The rail project is part of a master plan of providing an integrated transport solution for Nairobi.