Inside Kenya Railways Plan to Speed Up City Traffic

Kenya Railways has hatched a plan to speed up traffic in Nairobi by refurbishing 40 coaches which will ply the Ruiru- town center route.

The coaches are expected to provide an alternative form of transport that will reduce the dependency of vehicles which in turn will decrease traffic congestion. They will be commissioned in early July and the move will also ease the budget of bus fare for the commuters plying the route.

“We have been rehabilitating the coaches in phases and we have made good progress for operating the railway line with modern refurbished coaches together with the new UDM that will be coming on board soon,’’ Kenya Railways Managing Director Philip Mainga informed on Monday.

According to the Nation, The Ruiru-Nairobi railway route is served by 20 coaches with a trip from Ruiru to Nairobi costing Ksh50 by train.

Train fares unlike matatus, do not fluctuate regularly depending on the hour of the day or the weather.

The first batch of 20 coaches will be operational in July as part of a more comprehensive program to decongest Nairobi traffic,” Mainga disclosed.

According to Maingi, the refurbishing of the 40 coaches is a part of their masterplan for Nairobi to phase out old coaches.

Maingi further revealed that as part of the refurbishment, the coaches were also remodeled to modernize and upgrade the Nairobi Commuter Rail Service which serves the capital city’s CBD and residential areas within the city and its environs.

Commuters set to largely benefit from the coaches include those from Ruiru, Juja, Kahawa Wendani, Githurai 45, Mwiki, Dandora, and Makadara.

Kenya Railways is seeking to grow commuter numbers from the current 300,000 passengers monthly in Nairobi to over two million in the next two years.