NAIROBI, KENYA: Kenya is planning to upgrade its diesel-powered Standard Gauge Railway service (SGR) to electric in the next three to four years, Cabinet Secretary James Macharia told reporters on Wednesday.
The CS said the new project will cost about Sh65 billion and explained that the government opted to start with diesel powered train due uncertainty in electrical power supply.
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“We were not sure of electric power supply, that is why we started with diesel but provided a provision to upgrade it later to electric by 2021,” he said during the launch of inter-county train services between Mombasa and Nairobi.
Kenya Railways on Wednesday introduced a second trip on the Madaraka Express Passenger Service that departed Mombasa Termini at 3.30 pm.
CS Macharia said that the new service is part of measures to increase access and lower the cost of transport across the country.
“Since its launch five months ago, the Madaraka Express has endeavored to lower the cost of transport and make it more affordable for Kenyans to travel for both business and leisure. So far, the service has moved over 337,000 passengers between the port city of Mombasa and Nairobi, with the number growing daily,’’ he said.
Some authorities project Kenya’s maximum power demand to grow 72 per cent to 2,259 megawatts by 2020 from the current 1,620 megawatts, to which demand the Standard Gauge Railway will contribute greatly.
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On the other hand, the Government sees the demand tripling to 4,755 megawatts in the three years.
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