Railway contractor to hire 30,000 for Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya

China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) has announced that it will hire about 30,000 staff that will construct the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR).

In a statement yesterday, the firm, which has been contracted to build the Sh327 billion modern railway line between Nairobi and Mombasa, said it is looking to bring on board a wide range of Kenyan talent that will include engineering, technical and operations personnel for the railway construction exercise.

CRBC said it would train the new employees to improve their capacity to be at par with global standards. The people recruited to work on the railway are expected to play part in sustainably running the line once it is completed.

“To complete the project on time, about 30,000 workers will be employed. Kenyan workers hired to work on the railway will be trained on such areas as technology, safety and environment management,” said CRBC.

“Once the project is completed, the large number of qualified and experienced workers will be crucial in running the new railway line sustainably as well as work in industries that will be set up to produce spare parts for the locomotives.”

CRBC is currently receiving applications from interested job seekers. The personnel being sought by CRBC range from engineers and equipment operators to human resource officials, land surveyors and casual labourers.

The new railway will significantly reduce the transportation costs and save time, which is expected to have a direct impact on cost of commodities and generally ease cost of doing business. Currently, passenger trains take eight hours, sometimes more, between Nairobi and Mombasa.

The new railway will however reduce this by more than 50 per cent with speeds of 120km per hour (kph) for passenger trains bringing down travel time to four and a half hours.