The Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) has announced a sizable drop in the number of passengers who used the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in the first half of 2024.
KNBS in its Leading Economic Indicators report released on September 18, disclosed that SGR recorded a 121,000 passenger drop between January and June this year compared to the corresponding period in 2023.
The performance was in comparison to the first half of last year when the SGR ferried 1,249,805 passengers. According to the report, the month of January recorded the best performance after reporting a passenger count of 192,376.
According to the report, the above month recorded an incredible performance as more citizens embraced the train service due to its reliability, convenience, and affordability at the time.
Additionally, the months of February, April and May recorded the least number of passengers, thus derailing the overall performance.
In the report, SGR also recorded a Ksh648,743,836 increase in revenues during the period under review.
The Standard Gauge Railway recorded an increase in revenues from Ksh1,203,681,719 to 1,852,425,555, a significant improvement that was attributed to the new measures put in place by the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC).
According to KNBS, the months of January, April and May recorded the highest revenue for 2024.
“The report also details changes in selected indicators e.g. international trade. The report is usually published with a one-month time lag,” KNBS stated.
The latest report comes hardly three months after the KNBS released the SGR's quarterly performance report. In its report released in June this year, KNBS revealed that SGR recorded a passenger drop of 65,000 people between January and March compared to the previous year.
KNBS also noted that the transportation and storage sector’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) registered an estimated decelerated growth of 3.8 per cent in the first quarter of 2024 compared to a 6.6 per cent growth recorded during a similar period in 2023.
Further, SGR's cargo revenue rose marginally from Ksh3.14 billion in the first quarter of 2023 to Ksh3.24 billion in the corresponding quarter of 2024.
