On Wednesday, the train arrived at the Port Reitz station from Nairobi, with engineers saying the trains would travel at 120 kilometres per hour.

 

"The train took two hours between Nairobi and Mtito Andei because the track there is complete. But from there we moved slowly because there are extensive tests that we need to do between Mtito and Mombasa," Joshua Matu, the engineer who is coordinating the SGR project, said.

 

"This proves that the journey between Nairobi and Mombasa will take four and half hours on the express train," he added.

 

Kenya Railways has said there will be two types of trains operating between Mombasa and Nairobi, the intercity and inter county with the former stopping only once at Mtito Andei while the latter will stop at all the seven stations.

 

Mr Matu said for the next two weeks, engineers will be testing the track between Mombasa and Mtito Andei with a view to establish whether there are defects.

 

"As the train moves, there is a system that takes images of the entire track and after that we analyse the pictures to establish if there is any part of the track that is not properly fixed or those that might have cracks," he said.

 

The engineer said the Miritini station will be complete by end of this month and was undergoing some final touches.

 

This comes a week after 150 more goods wagons were delivered at the Mombasa port.

 

The flat wagons are to be used for freight transportation once the SGR starts operation.

 

This is the second batch of wagons delivered under the SGR line development in Kenya following delivery of 60 open wagons last month.

 

Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina said he received the wagons at the port of Mombasa.

 

He said the wagons will be used to ferry all types of containers, large size cargo including steel, automobiles, tractors and box-cargo.

 

"The demand for transportation in the country exceeds the capacity of the roads and the existing railway line.

 

"These flat wagons will provide a working solution for transportation of freight in the country and will go a long way in decongesting the Port of Mombasa.

 

"Once we commence operations, railway transport will increase its market share of the total freight and cargo transport in the country," Mr Maina said.

Source : allafrica.com