Kenya Railways Corporation has announced the resumption of a second Madaraka Express passenger train services between Nairobi and Mombasa.
The train services will resume from tomorrow Thursday. The announcement follows the Government’s relaxation of anti-Covid-19 measures on Monday.
It says, as from October 1 there will be an additional afternoon express train to and from Nairobi and Mombasa.
The second train service which was suspended in April is expected to leave Mombasa for Nairobi at 2.15pm and arrive in Nairobi at 7.20pm. This is to enable passengers travelling to other destinations beat the 9pm curfew.
Two months ago, Standard Gauge Railway operations between Mombasa and Nairobi resumed. Transport CS James Macharia explained that the first trip will start from Nairobi at 8am and is expected to arrive at Mombasa at 12pm.
Madaraka Express was stopped following the outbreak of coronavirus in the country in March. In the last three years, over 4.3 million passengers had used the Madaraka Express passenger service launched in May 2017.
An economy coach has 118 seats while a First-class coach has 72 seats. The current maximum seat occupancy is 50 per cent in line with government directives on social distancing.
Constructed at Sh327 billion, the 472-kilometer standard gauge railway line between Mombasa and Nairobi was co-financed by commercial and semi-concessional loans from China and the Government of Kenya.
The Railway has been losing money at an unsustainable rate of Sh998.2 million per month making it impracticable that Kenya Railways will be able to repay its Chinese creditors at the current rate.
Kenya Railways’ default on a payment to the China Road and Bridge Corporation’s subsidiary, Africa Star generated ruckus in the country. There are concerns that Kenya’s unpaid debts to China may threaten the smooth running of the Standard Gauge Railway Service.