Contractor set to start laying Standard Gauge Railway track

The Chinese contractor for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) has announced that laying of the track between Nairobi and Mombasa will begin simultaneously in two places in November.

Officials say the exercise will start from Mtito Andei’s Kathekani area towards Mombasa while the other works towards Nairobi will start from Emali.

In an interview with The Standard in Mombasa on Sunday, Kenya Railways Managing Director Athanas Maina said  specialised locomotives to be used in laying of the rail tracks will be shipped into the country later in September.

“We are upbeat that everything is falling into plan as we attempt to meet the project deadline of 2017,” the MD said.

The MD said that all, save for only five per cent of land on the entire rail track corridor from Mombasa to Nairobi, has been procured.

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He said NLC was working overtime to ensure the remaining land is acquired for SGR project to progress.

Maina added that already, procurement for locomotives, wagons and coaches for operations from China is currently being finalised.

On the contentious issue of land around the Nairobi National Park, where the SGR will pass through, Maina said a joint technical team from KR and the Kenya Wildlife Service has started reviewing various aspects of conservation on the project.

“I am happy to announce that we reached very good consensus with the KWS Trustee board on the need to ensure that boundaries of the park are not altered in any way,” he said.

Maina said a special rail corridor in the park will have a 700-metre long viaduct to ensure passage of animals.

China Road and Bridges Corporation (CRBC), the project contractors said it was undertaking trial track-laying of the SGR as it gears to start the actual work later this year.

Julius Li, CRBC manager for external relations and cooperation for the SGR project, confirmed that laying of the actual track will start in November this year.