After the rehabilitation of the old Nanyuki Railway line, President Uhuru Kenyatta now targets the Kisumu line, whose revamping will start in the next two weeks. This comes at a time when the Head of State continues to kick out DP Ruto’s allies from key Parliament positions.
Philip Mainga, the Kenya Railways managing director, said that the refurbishment of the rail network, which is more than a century old, would start on August 1 and take eight months. This is according to a report in the Business Daily.
The project marks a policy U-turn given that the State earlier ruled out reviving the line that had fallen into disrepair.
Mr. Mainga said that Kenya Railway engineers and National Youth Service will refurbish the line in a bid to cut the upgrade cost.
Initially, Kenya had plans of tapping the Chinese for the upgrade. The 216km line will connect to the recently refurbished Sh3 billion Kisumu port, which will enable ferrying of cargo and passengers to Uganda, Rwanda, Burundi and Democratic Republic of Congo on ships via Lake
The Nanyuki Line works which are set to be implemented in six months have been divided into three sections in which the works are progressing concurrently in a bid to ensure a speedy conclusion.
They are Thika – Maragua, a distance of 47.60km; Maragua – Karatina a distance of 54.20km; and Karatina – Nanyuki a distance of 75.40km.
The scope of works for this project entails site clearance of the entire corridor and removal of encroachments; rehabilitation of the permanent way infrastructure; refurbishment of rolling stock; and leasing of 8no. Locomotives for use in operations. The scope also includes the construction of a railway station at Chaka and construction of additional 250 kilometers of railway line to the Vivo Energy Depot in Nanyuki.
