Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway
| Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Overview | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Type | Heavy rail | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Status | Under construction | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Termini |
Mombasa Nairobi |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operation | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Planned opening | June 2017 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Character | Fully grade-separated | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Technical | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Line length | 485 km (301 mi) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) standard gauge | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Electrification | None | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Operating speed | 120 km/h (75 mph) (passenger) 80 km/h (50 mph) (freight) |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Mombasa–Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a standard gauge railway that will connect the port of Mombasa to Kenya's capital city Nairobi. Tracklaying was completed in December 2016, and the railway will be commissioned in June 2017. Commercial operation will begin in January 2018.
Under the East African Railway Master Plan, the Mombasa–Nairobi line will link up with other standard gauge railways that are being built in East Africa. Construction is already under way on Phase II of the Kenya SGR, which will extend the railway to the Uganda border by 2021.
The prime contractor on the railway is the China Road and Bridge Corporation. The project is estimated to cost US$3.6 billion, with 90% supplied by a loan from the Exim Bank of China and 10% coming from the Kenyan government. 25,000 Kenyans were hired to work on the railway.
Upon completion, the railway will be operated for five years by the China Communications Construction Company. The design capacity of the railway is 22 million tonnes per year.
The SGR begins at Port Reitz, just west of Mombasa Island. The line passes through the transportation corridor between Tsavo East National Park and Tsavo West National Park. As it approaches Nairobi, the railway crosses the 2.6 km long Athi River Super Bridge, the 6th longest bridge in Africa at the time of its construction. The main station for Nairobi is at Syokimau, near Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
Phase 2 of the SGR will extend the Mombasa–Nairobi line to Naivasha, and eventually to the Uganda border. A connecting standard gauge railway is being built in Uganda by another Chinese state-owned company, giving landlocked Uganda high-capacity railway transport to the sea.
...
Wikipedia