High-Tech System That'll Ease Nairobi Traffic After NMS Unveils Trains, Roads

Motorists stranded On a stand still Traffic Jam Towards The CBD Along Busy Thika super Highway in Nairobi on Monday, November 11, 2019.
Motorists stranded On a standstill Traffic Jam Towards The CBD Along Busy Thika super Highway in Nairobi on Monday, November 11, 2019.
Simon Kiragu
Kenyans.co.ke

President Uhuru Kenyatta unveiled advanced plans to ease traffic jam in Nairobi, after launching the new commuter train system on Tuesday, November 10.

The plans are part of the Nairobi Metropolitan Services (NMS) repairing, recarpeting and constructing roads in the capital to ease congestion. 

Kenyatta announced that NMS and Kenya Urban Roads Authority (KURA) will construct a traffic management centre at City Cabanas, Nairobi which will manage traffic by utilising cameras, sensors and anonymised data to provide synchronised signals at 100 new junctions. 

Data anonymization is a type of information sanitization aimed at protecting the privacy of subjects. It entails removing personally identifiable information from data sets.

a
President Uhuru Kenyatta launches the refurbished rail system at Nairobi Central Railway Station on Tuesday, November 10, 2020
PSCU

NMS will converge the new system with the additional traffic lights as well as redesigning and signalizing 25 additional traffic intersections. 

Kenyatta further disclosed that NMS is implementing a non-motorised transport master plan developed as part of the Nairobi Urban Mobility Plan. 

"NMS has constructed an elaborate network of footpaths interconnecting various transport termini and the Central Business District (CBD), established footpaths within CBD as well as improved bus and secure bicycle paths. 

"It has also constructed a matatu terminus at the Nairobi Central Station to compliment bicycle lanes across the city. Dreams will be empowered, businesses will be revived to prosper and travel will be made easier," Kenyatta assured. 

He added that the train system will increase the number of daily commuters from 15,000 to 40,000 per day. Additional infrastructure such as track lines and locomotives will see the number rise to 130,000 passengers per day. 

The units will serve a number of Nairobi estates between the CBD and Kikuyu, Kitengela, Thika, Syokimau and Embakasi Areas. Phase two of the project will be within the existing railway corridor and will extend commuter rail services to Thika, Limuru, and Lukenya.

Phase three will be within new railway corridors and will target the outlying satellite towns such as Ongata Rongai, Kiserian, Ngong, Kiambu, Ruai and Kangemi.

In addition to the NMS road projects in Nairobi, the government is also expanding the road network through the construction of Nairobi Expressway, Western and Eastern bypasses and expanding Waiyaki Way to an expressway to ease traffic in the city. 

a
President Uhuru Kenyatta stares at a new commuter train launched in Nairobi on Tuesday, November 10, 2020
PSCU