Kenya Railways suspends city train service until Jan 2

City residents will not use the Nairobi commuter train from today, the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has announced.

In a public notice published Friday, the corporation said commuter services will resume on January 2.

It was not immediately clear why the operations have been suspended or what informed this decision as Kenya Railways had not responded to our queries by the time of filing the story

“We wish to notify you that the Nairobi commuter train (Kikuyu, Embakasi, Ruiru, and Syokimau) will not run as from December 23, 2017 and will resume on Tuesday January 2, 2018.

“The SGR link remains in operation during the said period,” said the KRC in a notice to passengers on Friday.

The cheaper commuter train plies the Dandora, Ruiru, Umoja, Makadara, Imara Daima, Embakasi, Kibera, Kikuyu and Soykimau estates.

It charges between Sh40-Sh60 with its 10 coaches carrying between 150 and 170 passengers per trip.

Revised commuter schedule

Plans by the corporation to suspend its operations until January 2 come barely a month after it revised the Nairobi commuter schedule especially for passengers plying the Syokimau-city centre route.

Under the new schedule, which took effect on December 1, the metre-gauge train has been leaving Syokimau station at 6:40am to arrive in Nairobi at 7:27am.

There has also been a second train on the same line departing Syokimau station at 7:40am to arrive at the Nairobi terminus at 8:27am.

In the adjustment, the first train in the afternoon has been leaving the Nairobi terminus at 12pm to arrive at Syokimau train terminus at 12:50pm.

The second Syokimau train in the afternoon has been departing Nairobi terminus at 5:50pm to arrive at Syokimau train terminus at 6:37pm.

The third train in the afternoon however has been leaving for Syokimau from the CBD at 7:50pm to arrive at 8:30pm.