Mombasa – Nairobi railway line (standard gauge)

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Mombasa – Nairobi
Route map
Route map
Route length: 472 km
Gauge : 1435 mm ( standard gauge )
Legend
End station - start of the route
 Mombasa terminus
   
 from Mombasa Port Reitz
Station, station
 Mariakani
Station, station
 Miasenyi
BSicon .svgBSicon BHF.svgBSicon exKBHFa.svg
Voi
BSicon .svgBSicon STR.svgBSicon exSTRl.svg
to Moshi (meter gauge railway)
   
 Tsavo Super Bridge (1987 m)
Station, station
 Mtito Andei
Station, station
 Kibwezi
Station, station
 Emali
   
 Athi River Super Bridge (2550 m)
Station, station
 Athi River
   
 to Nairobi Embakasi
BSicon KBHFa.svgBSicon KBHFe.svgBSicon .svg
Nairobi terminus
BSicon STR.svgBSicon .svgBSicon .svg
to Nairobi city center (meter-gauge railway)

The railway Mombasa-Nairobi in standard gauge (official English name: Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway , shortly SGR) is the first standard gauge railway line in Kenya . It was opened in May 2017 and is intended to replace the eastern section of the meter-gauge Uganda railway . The route connects the largest port in East Africa , Mombasa , and the capital Nairobi (altitude: 1661 m), the two largest cities in the country.

geography

The track length is less than the corresponding distance of the Uganda Railway, as the new line straightforward in some sections traced out is because modern locomotives higher slopes gracefully than steam locomotives , for the Uganda Railway was conceived, and with more bridges and cuts higher Effort was driven in the construction phase. In sections, however, it runs parallel to the old building line and the A109 highway. From the port city of Mombasa on the Indian Ocean , the route leads with numerous gradients northwest to Nairobi, which is 1661 meters above sea level. The apex of the route is more than 2500 meters above sea level.

history

Since the end of the 19th century, the Uganda Railway served the Mombasa – Nairobi connection and later to Uganda. It deteriorated rapidly in the 2000s. The travel time for the 530-kilometer route has recently increased to around 18 hours, a coach takes eight hours (as of 2017), and the freight volume fell to 1.5 million tons per year (as of 2012).

In 2011, the Kenyan government and representatives of the China Road and Bridge Corporation signed a memorandum of understanding on the construction of a standard gauge line from Mombasa to Nairobi. The construction costs were financed 90% by the Chinese import and export bank and 10% by the Kenyan state. Depending on the source, there are different amounts of data between three and 5.13 billion US dollars. The contract was awarded by the Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta by hand without a tender ; the suspicion of corruption was discussed.

The line was built between 2013 and 2017. It is the most complex infrastructure measure in the history of Kenya . Over 25,000 Kenyans were involved in the construction of the route. The superstructure was completed in December 2016 . On May 31, 2017, President Uhuru Kenyatta opened the route, while the first train from Nairobi to Mombasa had already left on May 29, 2017. Freight traffic started in early 2018.

Technical parameters

Infrastructure

Athi River Super Bridge under construction

The line is 472 kilometers long - 609 kilometers with side tracks - non- electrified and single-track . In the area of ​​the Tsavo National Park ( East and West ) it is completely fenced in, and underpasses allow the animals to move around . The largest of these is the 1987 meter long Tsavo Super Bridge between Tsavo West National Park and Tsavo East National Park . The Mazeras-2 Bridge is the highest bridge on the route at 43.5 meters, and the Athi River Super Bridge is the longest at 2.55 kilometers.

In the final stage of development, the line will have 40 stations , nine of which will also be used for passenger traffic. The inland container transshipment station will be Embakasi in Nairobi. The route is designed for a freight traffic of 22 million tons per year.

The railway infrastructure allows a maximum speed for passenger trains of 120 km / h and for freight trains of 80 km / h. The travel time in passenger traffic between the two terminal stations fell to a good five hours. In Nairobi, the route ends in a train station far from the city center. Travelers who want to go to the city center can change to a connecting train at Syokimau station , which is operated in the traditional meter gauge .

vehicles

Diesel locomotives , coaches and freight cars are sourced from China:

Type Manufacturer number Remarks proof
DF8B CRRC Qishuyan 8th Freight locomotives
DF7G CRRC Qishuyan 2 Shunting locomotives
DF11 CRRC Qishuyan 5 Passenger locomotives
25G CRRC Puzhen 39 Passenger cars and baggage cars
C70E CRRC Qiqihar 180 Closed freight wagons
NX70 CRRC Qiqihar 150 Container car

business

The route is operated by the Kenya Railways Corporation . The opening train ran on May 31, 2017. Scheduled operations have been taking place since June 1, 2017, Madaraka Day . The last scheduled passenger train on the meter-gauge line ran on April 28, 2017. The operation will be taken over by the China Communications Construction Company for the first five years .

passenger traffic

Passenger train at Nairobi Terminus

Passenger trains start at Mombasa Terminus in the Miritini district and end at the Syokimau Railway Station in the Syokimau district of Nairobi. Both terminals are outside the city center. In Nairobi-Syokimau you can change to the meter-gauge line that leads to the old train station in the city center. A train also travels in the opposite direction on the meter-gauge route for departure.

Passenger trains run twice a day in both directions from 8 a.m. and from 3:30 p.m. as Madaraka Express with an intermediate stop at the train crossing in Mtito Andei. They offer seats in 1st and 2nd class cars. The scheduled travel times for the entire route are between 4:50 and 6:07 hours. An inter-county service with seven stops was put into operation in August 2017. It connects the route in around five and a half hours. The start of the slower trains has been postponed due to a lack of staff. The express trains initially offered around 1200 seats, a few weeks later they could use 1500 passengers.

Freight transport

Freight traffic began in January 2018, previously there were test drives. Continuous freight traffic leads from Port Reitz, immediately west of Mombasa Island , to Embakasi in Nairobi.

Expansion plans

The extension to the west from Nairobi to Naivasha has been continued; The section was opened in 2019.

The continuation of the route via Kisumu to the Kenyan-Ugandan border near Malaba is being planned, but has not yet been financed. The route from Malaba is to continue to Kampala in Uganda - this section is not financed either, as the Ugandan side is waiting for completion to Malaba. In autumn 2019, the media reported that the Chinese state did not want to finance the expansion to neighboring Uganda due to the losses incurred on the Nairobi – Mombasa route.

From there there are plans for further routes north to Juba in South Sudan and south via Kigali ( Rwanda ) to Bujumbura in Burundi . Despite these original plans, the Rwandan government has started building a route connection to the Tanzanian railway network , as it can be implemented more cheaply, quickly and safely. It is therefore unclear whether the further expansion stages to Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan will be implemented.

literature

Web links

Commons : Mombasa – Nairobi railway line  - collection of images
  • A travel report: Typically Kenya “From Nairobi to Mombasa it takes just under five hours by rail. Sit comfortably, air conditioning well, passengers in the intoxication of speed - there is only a problem with the tickets. ”In: Die Tageszeitung from July 24, 2017. (Page 5)
  • 3sat nano contribution rail line through a nature reserve “Kenya's new railway line is a prestige object and part of a plan that is to catapult the country into the future by 2030. A national park falls by the wayside. ”Broadcast from February 5, 2020 to February 5, 2025 available.

Remarks

  1. ↑ The graphic only shows the stations served by passenger traffic.
  2. ↑ At the start of operations there were 33 (NN: Mombasa-Nairobi ).

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Timetable at kenyatrainbooking.com (English), accessed on July 1, 2017.
  2. ↑ a b c NN: Mombasa SGR .
  3. ↑ a b c d Experience report at seat61.com (page “Nairobi-Mombasa train service”; English), accessed on July 3, 2017
  4. ↑ a b mr: new line .
  5. ↑ a b PR China is East Africa's most important supplier. gtai.de, archive version
  6. ↑ a b c d Mwangi: Train .
  7. ↑ Kenya to finish the most expensive infrastructure project ever. allafrica.com of January 2, 2017 (English), accessed July 5, 2017
  8. ↑ Report ( Memento from December 1, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) at focac.org from August 27, 2015 (English)
  9. ↑ a b Mombasa - Nairobi standard gauge freight service launched. railwaygazette.com dated January 3, 2018, accessed October 3, 2018
  10. ↑ a b c d e NN: Mombasa-Nairobi .
  11. ^ NN: Mombasa .
  12. ↑ a b Standard Gauge Railway Bridges. ( Memento from August 3, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) megaprojects.co.ke (English)
  13. ↑ SGR Photo Updates . Archived from the original on June 23, 2016. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
  14. ↑ DF7G diesel shunting locomotive ( zh-CN )
  15. ↑ a b Kenyan standard gauge locomotives unveiled (en) . In: Railway Gazette , December 20, 2016. 
  16. ↑ a b c 蒙 内 铁路 项目 第五 、 六 批 轨道 设备 顺利 登 港 ( zh ) 中国 路桥 工程 有限公司. 20th March 2017.
  17. ^ Mombasa-Nairobi section of the SGR to be complete by June next year. nation.co.ke on May 29, 2016, accessed July 5, 2017
  18. ↑ Kenya Railways website , accessed Nov. 18, 2017
  19. ↑ Train makes first Nairobi to Mombasa trip in five hours. the-star.co.ke of May 30, 2017 (English), accessed July 3, 2017
  20. ↑ LOK Report - Kenya: One year "Madaraka Express" and start of the track laying through the national park. In: lok-report.de. June 19, 2018, accessed on August 2, 2020 (German).
  21. ↑ a b Why inter-county SGR train service failed to start. businesstoday.co.ke, June 2, 2017, accessed July 3, 2017
  22. ↑ a b East Africa's joint mega railway project at the crossroads TheEastAfrican (English), January 28, 2019, accessed on January 29, 2019
  23. ↑ Antje Diekhans: China stops financing in Kenya - move to nowhere. In: One world. Deutschlandfunk, November 11, 2019, accessed on November 11, 2019 .
  24. ↑ Kate Hairsine: Kenya struggles to manage debt for railway to 'nowhere'. In: Deutsche Welle. October 18, 2019, accessed November 11, 2019 .
  25. ^ Kenya Railway East Africa , accessed on July 3, 2017
  26. ^ Mombasa – Nairobi standard gauge railway project. railway-technology.com, accessed July 3, 2017