This archive report was first published on 25 October 2019.
President Uhuru Kenyatta officially opened the Mai Mahiu SGR passenger terminus on October 25, 2019, but a week later, it has remained inaccessible due to a poor road.
The 12-kilometer murram road connects the terminus to the Mai Mahiu-Narok road and was already in a deplorable condition before the ongoing rains damaged it further.
Residents and travelers have called on the government to rehabilitate the road to ease transport costs, which have shot up due to the poor road conditions.
For one to travel to Nairobi from Mai Mahiu, a person must either hire a taxi to the train station and pay Sh500, or ride on a boda boda for Sh150, and then pay for a Sh100 train ticket.
Local leader Benson Mungai addressed the press at the station and said passengers seeking to travel to Nairobi were being referred to Suswa Station, which is situated 30 kilometers from Mai Mahiu.
Mr. Mungai wondered why the government had said that the SGR was terminating in Nakuru County but key services had been moved to neighboring Narok County.
Resident Peter Ngigi echoed Mr. Mungai's sentiments, saying it had become expensive to travel by train to Nairobi from Mai Mahiu owing to the poor road network.
Nakuru County Commissioner Erastus Mbui had promised that the road would be rehabilitated, but with construction of the industrial park yet to start, it is not expected that there will be much demand for cargo services in the near future.
