SGR passenger numbers drop by over 100,000 after fare hike

The number of passengers commuting between Nairobi and Mombasa using the Standard Gauge Railway decreased drastically in the first six months of this year.

Data obtained by one of the local daily's shows the numbers fell by more than 100,000, exhibiting the impact of the move by the Railways Corporation to raise fares by 50 per cent in January.

The figures show nearly 1.13 million tickets were sold in the period under review compared to 1.25 million in the same period last year.

In January this year, Kenya Railways Corporation announced a 50 percent fare hike for Nairobi to Mombasa SGR passengers.

The fare review also affected passengers using the Nairobi commuter rail service and the Kisumu and Nanyuki safari trains.

In the new changes, passengers travelling from Nairobi to Mombasa using SGR were then to pay Sh1,500 for economy class and Sh4,500 for first class.

This was an increase from the previous rate of Sh1,000 (economy class) and Sh3,000 (first class).

Kenya Railways management in a statement said the increase was informed by changes in the energy and petroleum sector where prices of fuel had significantly increased, affecting the cost of operations.

Notably, the strategy to hike the fares seems to be paying off as Africa Star Railway Operations Company (Afristar), reporting a 35.16 percent jump in revenue from SGR passenger services to Sh1.85 billion in the half year from Sh1.37 billion a year ago.

Under a 10-year concession that began in 2017, Afristar, a division of China Road and Bridge Corporation, is in charge of running and maintaining the line.

This is amidst the increasing pressure on KRC to begin repaying the $3.75 billion (Sh484.3 billion at current dollar conversion rates) Chinese loan that was obtained to construct the line.

The National Treasury, however, recently revealed that Kenya Railways is yet to start repaying billions of shillings spent by taxpayers on servicing the loan Kenya took from China's Exim Bank.

Details of the exact cost value of the line and when and how KRC will repay the funds are still shrouded in secrecy.

The previous government had however noted that the SGR project was constructed at a cost of $3.2 billion (Sh413.2 billion at the current exchange rate).