President William Ruto has officially launched the Naivasha–Kisumu–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project.
The 475 km railway network is expected to extend from Naivasha through Narok, Bomet, Kericho, Nyamira, Kisumu, and the Malaba border.
Ruto met with the chairman of the China Communications Construction Company, Song Hailiang, on Wednesday, March 19, ahead of the launch.
Chinese contractors, including China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC), are leading the engineering and construction works.
The project, implemented by Kenya Railways in collaboration with the National Land Commission, comprises two sections: the Naivasha–Kisumu section and the Kisumu–Malaba section.
Naivasha–Malaba SGR: Train Stations, Route and Passenger Capacity
The government plans to use over Ksh. 500 billion for the project, with more money allocated to the longer Naivasha-to-Kisumu leg of 264 kilometres.
The Naivasha–Kisumu section will stretch approximately 264 kilometres from Emurtoto in Narok County to Kisumu, with an additional 8.69-kilometre branch line to the proposed new Kisumu Port.
Along the route, the line passes through Narok, Bomet, Kericho, Nyamira, and Kisumu counties.
The railway line will have six intermediate stations at Narok, Mulot, Bomet, Sotik, Sondu, and Ahero.
It will pass through 17 crossing sections across Narok, Bomet, Nyamira, Kericho, and Kisumu counties.
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Kenya Railways Managing Director Philip Mainga indicated that phase 2B of the line will be completed by June 2027.
The Kisumu–Malaba 107km section will have two intermediate stations: Yala and Mumias.
It will further traverse through six crossing stations across Kisumu, Siaya, Vihiga, Kakamega, and Busia Counties.
The stations include Kisian West, Ramala, Yala, Musanda, Manyulia, and Amukura.
The project design includes 13 tunnels, 23 bridges, and 376 culverts.
Passenger and Cargo Capacity
Each passenger train will have a capacity of 1,096 passengers and a designed speed of 120 kilometres per hour.
Meanwhile, each freight train will have a haulage capacity of 4,000 tonnes (216 TEUS) with a designed speed of 80 kilometres per hour.
The designed freight carrying capacity of the railway is 22 million tonnes per annum.
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Other key features in the extension project include a uniform design specification, which will permit seamless operation across the borders.
Once complete, the railway will form a key part of the Northern Corridor, linking Kenya to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi, South Sudan, and the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Ruto said the project would facilitate seamless movement of goods from the Indian Ocean to the hinterland, drastically reducing the time and cost associated with cross-border trade.
He noted that the railway would also ease pressure on the road network by shifting bulk cargo from road to rail, thereby lowering transport costs, saving time, and improving safety on major highways.
