The number of passengers using the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) dropped by 282,000 last year compared to 2023, according to the latest data from the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS).
In 2024, a total of 2,447,000 passengers used the SGR, a drop from the 2,729,000 who used the service in the previous year.
KNBS did not expressly state the cause of the decline, which represented a 10.3 per cent drop. However, the drop may have been caused by the 50 per cent fare hike introduced at the start of the year.
In 2022, a total of 2,392,000 passengers used the train service. The 2024 record was also improvement from 2021 which saw SGR get 1,993,000 users. In 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, the train service recorded just 812,000 users.
Conversely, the commuter train service revenues increased by 39.4 per cent, from Ksh2.9 billion in 2023 to Ksh4.09 billion in 2024, attributable to the fare hike.
Regarding transportation of cargo, there was a drop in both the freight volume and freight revenues last year. The freight volume transported via SGR declined from 6,533,000 tonnes in 2023 to 6,531,000 tonnes in 2024.
However, the 2024 figures were higher than the cargo transported through the train in 2022, where freight volumes stood at 6,090,000 tonnes.
Figures in 2021, were lower, standing at 5,407,000 tonnes. The total haulage for 2020 was even lower, at 4,418,000 tonnes.
This reduction in freight haulage led to a 4.8 per cent decrease in revenue, from Sh14.685 billion in 2023 to Sh13.974 billion in 2024.
Earlier in the year, a report by KNBS recorded that SGR had recorded a passenger drop of 50,780 and a reduction in cargo volumes.
According to the Third Quarter Gross Domestic Product Report 2024 released on Tuesday, January 7, commuters using train services reduced from 701,132 passengers in the third quarter of 2023 to 650,352 passengers in the same period in 2024.
The report indicated that the decline represented a 7.2 per cent drop in passengers ferried by the train service.
