Coming soon: City on Rail

Imagine a city that no longer relies on motor vehicles to ferry citizens to work; a city where you park your car and board a train — not because your car broke down, but because the train is faster and more efficient. Imagine a Nairobi where trains use underground tunnels for the 15-minute ride from the city centre to the airport, a Nairobi that does not have kilometre-long traffic gridlocks.

Now stop imagining, for that Nairobi is right here with you. Yes, Nairobi will soon be a city on rail once The Kenya Railway Corporation completes constructing a mega railway station in Syokimau, and the transformation that project will bring to the entire length of Mombasa Road is already attracting investors the way the the new Thika Road did.

Dubbed the ‘Core System,’ the Syokimau station is among the flagship projects outlines in the Kenya Vision 2030 development project and is estimated to cost Sh16 billion.

The 100 kilometre-long railway line is the first phase of three, connecting Nairobi to Ruiru, Embakasi Village, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Kikuyu.

The railway line will feature new diesel-electric trains with a capacity of 200,000 people per day and a maximum speed of 180 kilometres per hour, contrasting sharply with the current diesel engines that do up to 20 kilometres per hour.

Besides providing fast, reliable, safe, affordable and world class commuter rail services within the Nairobi Metropolitan region, the railway system is also expected to ease congestion on Mombasa Road because some of the traffic will be transferred to the system.

To accommodate the expected surge of motorists opting to go the rail way, the Syokimau Station will have a 1,200-slot parking yard.

The current 50 functional train stations serve at least 35,000 commuters daily. Passenger and freight trains servicing the main railway line between Mombasa and Kisumu have a maximum speed of 50 kilometres per hour.

For this, most people would rather brace the traffic on the roads than be on the rail because they consider trains to be too slow.

“With the high speed of the new trains, travelling time from the central business district to JKIA will significantly reduce from the current 90 minutes to 15 minutes,” the Managing Director of the Kenya Railways Corporation Nduva Muli said.

It is not just commuters who will benefit from the project. Businessmen too will reap from the completion of the project.

This is because the station will have shops and restaurants where passengers can enjoy a cup of coffee as they wait for their ride.

Other businesses and trading centres will also rise at the other stations in Kikuyu and Ruiru.

Businessmen have the opportunity to provide bus and shuttle services from the Syokimau terminus to JKIA in just five minutes.

The shuttles will operate for a while before the link line connecting Syokimau to JKIA is completed.

The 6.5 kilometre-long line will cross Mombasa Road through an underground tunnel at the cost of Sh3.2 billion — the most expensive part of the Core System.

“The Syokimau station will serve mostly residents of Syokimau, Mlolongo, Athi River, Kitengela and Kajiado who will have the option to complete the journey to the Central Business District in comfort by train after parking their cars or being dropped by public means,” Mr Muli said.

But KRC faces two major challenges to the completion of the project: encroachment along the Nairobi–Kibera-Makadara–Embakasi railway corridor and the menace that is matatus and buses blocking the entrance to Nairobi Railway Station.

Discussions are underway with the World Bank, Nairobi City Council and the Ministry of Local Government to come up with a speedy solution.

This is the first time since independence that Kenya is building even one metre of rail. The current network was built by Indian slaves and the Imperial British East Africa Company in the 1895.

It began at the Kilindini Harbour along the coast and arrived in Nairobi in 1900. The KRC therefore seeks to not only build new lines but also rehabilitate the current stations.

In 2008, the Government of Kenya launched the Vision 2030, a development blueprint aimed at transforming the country into a middle-income state.

The Vision is based on three pillars. The Economic Pillar seeks to improve the prosperity of Kenyans through an economic development programme with the aim of achieving a gross domestic product growth rate of 10 per cent yearly.

The Social Pillar intends to build an equal and cohesive society in a clean environment, while the Political Pillar creates a democratic political system that is founded on issue-based politics that respect the rule of law as well as protect the rights of every Kenyan.

The Vision 2030 flagship projects are being implemented in five stages — of five years each — beginning in 2008. The stages are called ‘medium-term plans’ and are, therefore, the pace setters in rapid growth generations.

The 2008-2012 medium-term plan has over 20 flagship projects under various ministries, among them the Syokimau Railway and the Thika Road super-highway. The road is expected to be completed by June next year.

With the deadline for the 2008-2012 medium term plan fast approaching, ministries are in a last minute rush to beat it, implementing as many projects as they can. For that, the government has made significant progress. And the Kenya Railway Corporation refuses to be left behind.

Phase two of the railway project will include an additional 70 kilometres of rail, connecting Thika, Lukenya and Limuru, while the third phase will add 100 kilometres more extending to Ngong, Kiserian, Rongai and Kiambu.

When all three phases are completed by 2030, Nairobi will not just be the city in the sun, but also the city on the rail.