New Mombasa-Nairobi link

News 23 Jul 2016 by WCN Editorial

Earthworks and engineering work on the new standard gauge line between Mombasa and Nairobi are 75% complete

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Many commentators doubted that the project would ever be developed when it was first mooted just five years ago, but it has proved the latest success for Chinese investment in Sub-Saharan Africa. The lead contractor on the project is China Road and Bridge Corporation, while 90% of the scheme’s US$3.42B funding has been provided by Exim Bank of China. This comprises a US$1.6B concessional loan to be repaid over 20 years and a US$1.82B commercial loan to be paid back over 15 years.

There will be ten stations on the line, including two that are described as hubs, which appear to be where containers can be transferred between rail and road.

The railway has 98 bridges totalling 30 km and eight underpasses in and around Tsavo National Park. The 472km line is due to be completed in 15 months, just 18 months after the completion of the second container terminal at Mombasa.

Taken together, the two projects should greatly improve freight transport in the country.

Once the first trains start to run at the end of 2017, work will begin on extending the line from Nairobi to Kampala The government of Kenya, which hopes to electrify the line at a later date, is required to upgrade the existing inland container terminal at Embakasi, on the edge of Nairobi.

The line will provide a much quicker means of moving cargo between Kenya’s main port and capital city. The fastest journey time on the existing, colonial-era railway, which has been operated by concessionaire Rift Valley Railways (RVR) for 11 years, is 12 hours. The new line will offer a quickest transport time of four hours and should help to increase the proportion of cargo carried between Mombasa and Nairobi by rail from the current low level of 10%.

The line will have initial freight handling capacity of 25 Mtpa, with each freight train capable of transporting 216 TEU via double stacking.