Chinese team to exit in December as Kenya Railways marks eight years of SGR operations

The last group of Chinese workers operating Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway will leave by December, paving the way for full control by Kenya Railways after eight years of joint operations.

Managing director Phillip Mainga on Tuesday announced that Kenya has already assumed close to full operations of the SGR and is now focusing on empowering local staff.

“The number of Chinese operating and working with the SGR has tremendously gone down,” Mainga said.

“That means localisation and enabling our own young people to work with us, creating talents and transfer of skills has been successfully implemented,” he added.

Mainga made the remarks during a media briefing held at the SGR Nairobi terminus in Syokimau during the eighth anniversary of the Madaraka Express.

“We have about four to five months. By December, we will take over completely, and the remaining Chinese staff will exit. That’s one of the key things we pride ourselves on on the eighth anniversary,” he said.

He described the past eight years as a period of safe and reliable growth in SGR operations, with no major incidents reported.

According to Mainga, passenger and cargo services have expanded steadily, helped by new investments in equipment and infrastructure.

“We have experienced major growth in our cargo movements as well as our passenger numbers. We also brought additional equipment, including 300 new wagons to SGR,” he said.

He said the introduction of a premium class coach had raised the standard of passenger service, and Naivasha, once considered inactive, is now thriving.

“But now, we are moving about five trains every day to Naivasha and connecting cargo to Meter Gauge Railway in Naivasha,” Mainga said.

Mainga said they now operate an average of eight to nine trains daily, with some days recording up to 12. “We have moved from seven–eight trains to around 10 trains per day, at times operating 11–12 trains,” he noted.

This year, cargo volumes are expected to surpass last year’s by a million tonnes. “That’s about 30 per cent growth,” Mainga said.

On the passenger side, projections are also rising. “They will grow with about 200,000–300,000 more passengers, hitting about 2.6 million passengers this year,” he said.

He said SGR currently contributes two to three per cent of Kenya’s GDP. “So, the SGR’s performance is exceptional. We have looked at our contribution as an infrastructure in this country.”

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Mainga also highlighted the travel efficiency between Nairobi and Mombasa. “Today, we run commuter passenger service about four and a half hours with a maximum of five hours.”