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Engineers at Mombasa port load a high capacity railway track ballast tamper and ballast profiler machines imported by Rift Valley Railways. The machines can restore design specifications increasing speed from 35km per hour to 65km per hour. [Photo: Kelvin Karani] |
By Philip Mwakio
Mombasa, Kenya: Rail operator, Rift Valley Railways (RVR) has acquired new equipment aimed at booting safety and convenience of rail usage. RVR Trains Operations Manager for Eastern Region Josiah Nyarangi, said on Thursday in Mombasa that the machines — a ballast tamper and ballast profiler machines imported from Austria and can restore a kilometre of track per hour to the technically correct design specifications.
This is compared to only 40 metre’s per hour when using manual maintenance crew — known as gang. The equipment is worth $1.3 million (Sh118 million) and manufactured by an Austrian firm, Plasser & Theurer.
“This is the latest capital investment the company is making aimed at improving the quality of the line,” he said. “Last year, we opened Uganda’s Northern line after extensive rehabilitation and replaced well over 70km of rail between Mombasa and Nairobi, cutting journey times between the two cities by over six hours.’’ Nyarangi said they expect to commission the equipment in the next two months following extensive training of RVR engineers by the manufacturers.
He said that maintaining optimum track alignment and uniform spreading of ballast on the railway track is important due to the unsettling that occurs from the movement of heavy trains. “We are already embracing latest maintenances technology as we aspire to have less engagement of direct human labour which has its own challenges,’’ Nyarangi said.
Speed restrictions
RVR Regional Civil Engineer, Eng Mwania Mativo said the new equipment will ensure areas along the rail track under speed restrictions are boosted. “A third of the Mombasa-Nairobi rail track is under speed restriction and with the new equipment at our disposal, we shall be able to have our trains run at faster speed than the normal 30kms per hour to 65km per hour as is the norm,’’ he said.
Eng Mwativo added that there should be more trains shuttling between Mombasa and Nairobi and vice versa.
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