This archive report was first published on 19 October 2019.
Published on October 19, 2019, two days after President Uhuru Kenyatta launched the inaugural Nairobi-Suswa Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line, our investigation revealed that the train service was off to an empty start.
Our spot check at the Ngong station showed that the trains were making round trips to Suswa while empty, with less than 15 passengers on all 4 carriages.
Residents and commuters cited the proximity of the train station and the poor state of the access roads leading to it as major challenges.
‘The roads and the conditions that they are in have put us completely off from using the train,’ said Michael Mbugua, a Rongai resident.
Passengers also lamented about the high cost of using the train, with one commuter stating, ‘Our biggest issue is the cost. This was supposed to make it easier for us to commute but now I have to pay more than Ksh.500…’
The new route has been criticized for sitting beyond the basics of inter-city travel, with train stations falling outside the target satellite towns.
Phase 2A of the railway line ends abruptly in a remote village, drawing blunt headlines such as ‘Railroad to nowhere’.
Passengers will also be forced to shoulder additional costs on last-mile connections to their destinations, as all train stations fall outside major urban centers.
According to the schedules released by Kenya Railways, residents of Rongai will pay Ksh.100 to Syokimau before taking another train at Ksh.50 to The City Centre, a total of Ksh.150 that does not factor in the transport cost used to get to the train station.
