If your house is dirty because of a lazy house help, will you move houses or change the house help? I ask this in reference to the company managing the railway. What is wrong with the current rail road we have? Have we used it to capacity? Are the numbers of trains greater than the current railway can accommodate? The answer to all of the above questions is no.
The only reason I have heard so far is that we are building a new Standard Gauge Railway because the current tracks cannot accommodate faster trains. I stand to be corrected. Once the Standard Gauge Railway is completed do you believe that the company will be able to pay back the funds loaned out to us?
Before you think of an answer I will go back to my initial argument, what is the issue with the old colonial railway except for the speed of the train? Management is the issue with our current railway. If the train service was as frequent as it should be? If the trains were serviced accordingly and did not experience the frequent breakdowns, I do believe many businessmen would prefer to use the train instead of trucks. All it takes is almost the same time, if not faster to move goods from Mombasa to Nairobi if you were to use a train instead of a truck.
I remember when the Syokimau train station was unveiled, new stations were built and some of the old ones were upgraded. At that time, the government announced that the same was to be done across Nairobi and if possible in other towns as well. No other train station has been upgraded or no new one has been built ever since. All the other train routes, Embakasi, Dandora, and Ruiru among others still use the old trains. The Syokimau train schedule is also not favourable to most commuters as well as the number of trips a train makes in a day. I do not think the public was consulted when the management came up with the schedule as well as the number of trips a train makes in a day. Rumour has it, that if the train would take full effect, businessmen who had procured ‘matatus’ would be at a loss as they had invested a lot. Wouldn't this be the same case with the Standard Gauge Railway? Haven't logistics companies invested a lot by procuring trucks and trailers?
The management of the Railway Company needs to shape up or shape out. Construction of the Standard Gauge Railway will go to waste if we are to hand over the project to the same management. The railway will be underutilized and cases of train breakdowns due to poor servicing will also be experienced in the new Standard Gauge Railway if nothing is changed.
In simple terms, the Kenya railway is a ‘dirty house’ because we have a ‘lazy house help’ (poor management). We are currently building a ‘new house’ which we will soon move into together with our ‘lazy house help’ and assume the ‘new house’ will stay clean. So ask yourself again, is the Standard Gauge Railway still worth it?
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