Kenya Railways starts SGR to metre gauge trial runs
SGR cargo train. FILE PHOTO | NMG
What you need to know:
- The corporation is looking forward to offer end-to-end rail delivery of cargo from Mombasa to the Ugandan ports of Jinja and Port Bell.
Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) has started trial runs as it seeks seamless cargo transfer at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot from the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to the old metre gauge railway (MGR).
KRC managing director Philip Mainga said the trial runs on the newly constructed link connecting the SGR and the MGR at Naivasha started yesterday with a view to tighten all the loose ends before full operations can resume in the next two months.
The corporation is looking forward to offer end-to-end rail delivery of cargo from Mombasa to the Ugandan ports of Jinja and Port Bell through Kisumu port vessels, and the direct main line through Naivasha-Malaba-Kampala, which is ready for operation.
“Our clients will now enjoy seamless transportation of cargo from the port of Mombasa to Malaba and onwards to East African region in safe, reliable and cost effective way,” said Mr Mainga.
“We actually have a train that will be operating tomorrow (today) on both directions still on test runs. Normal cargo operations will resume in two months with eight trains per day.”
Charges for containerised cargo from Kilindini to Malaba will be $860 (Sh97,180) for a 20-foot container weighing 0-30 tonnes, and $960 (Sh108,480) for a container above 30 tonnes.
*Written by Bonface Otieno
