This archive report was first published on 19 September 2019.
The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) Phase 2 extension from Nairobi to Naivasha has reached a major milestone with the completion of the 120km stretch of the new railway line.
According to Fredrick Andera, a technician from the China Communication Construction Company (CCCC), the contractor working on the project, the testing exercise is aimed at checking the track, communication, and signaling system while adjusting defects ahead of commissioning.
‘In this highly specialized system, tracks, trains, signaling, and communications are integrated into a safe operating unit that feeds information about track use and activity to the Centralized Traffic Control,’ Andera explained.
Addressing the press after visiting the Mai Mahiu station in Naivasha, Andera noted that the system is used by train dispatchers responsible for the overall command of the operation, ensuring that trains are routed safely and in a highly seamless sequence.
‘Safety management by dispatchers is a symbolic factor that sets rail transport apart from other modes of transport,’ he said.
Engineer Oscar Khagabo echoed Andera's sentiments, stating that priority will be given to passenger trains in keeping with international best practices where the particular train has the right of way whenever it meets a freight train.
Earlier this year, a senior engineer from the company, Xue Zhiming, assured that they had mapped out the fault zones in the Rift Valley that lie within the designated SGR corridor, before embarking on the construction of the SGR Phase 2A.
‘When we began planning the construction of the SGR Phase 2A, we mobilized many seasoned geologists from the renowned China Seismological Bureau to conduct a thorough geological survey in the seismic belt along the railway line,’ Zhiming said.
