Why town longs for the roar of morning train

The sleepy main yard at the Kisumu Railway Station. PHOTO | GIDEON MAUNDU | NATION|  

In Summary

• Once upon a time, the roar of a train used to be heard in the county. Some former train users spoke to Saturday Nation on Thursday when President Kenyatta launched the Sh1.2 trillion standard gauge railway project.
• In June, KR said it was going to set up a passenger train network to Kisumu’s suburbs then extend to Vihiga, Nandi, Kericho, Nyamira, Kisii, Homabay and Siaya.

By ELVIS ONDIEKI
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On a railway dockyard two kilometres north of the Kisumu CBD is a giant vessel facing Lake Victoria.

Google Maps imagery captures the 90-metre-long ship resting. Four tracks of rails run on its floor. It is the 49-year-old MV Uhuru with a capacity of 1,500 tonnes. Sometime ago, MV Uhuru ferried goods to Mwanza and back in two days.

MV Uhuru lies alongside other vessels at the once busy port. There is no work for her.

The ship is one among the many tales around the abandoned railway.

Once upon a time, the roar of a train used to be heard in the county. Some former train users spoke to Saturday Nation on Thursday when President Kenyatta launched the Sh1.2 trillion standard gauge railway project.

“Words can’t describe that pit-put-pat sound produced by the steam locomotives of the ’70s as the engine dragged wagons past our home in Miwani,” reminisces Ezekiel Omore, 44.

Mr Joel Ogonji, 39, says: “There was something romantic about the sound produced as wheels hit the rail joints. It was musical.”

Mr Julius Opiyo, 60, adds: “The sound of a train hooting as it approached the station was so powerful that you could feel it in your stomach and intestines.”

Without warning, train services to Kisumu screeched to a halt.

“The problem started when Rift Valley Railways (RVR) took over operations from the Kenya Railways in 2006. The Kisumu route was struck off the list of priority destinations,” Mr Willaim Akech, a retired KR mechanic, said.

He added: “The trips went on a diminishing trend up to late 2011 when trains were pulled out completely.”

An inter-city passenger train roster on the RVR website indicates that the only operational routes are the Nairobi-Mombasa ones. It also operates between the Nairobi and Ruiru, Kahawa, Kikuyu and Stony Athi routes. There are no services to Nakuru, Kisumu and Butere.

Mr Sammy Atuga, a retired KR employee, said a single train would carry up to 1,200 people to Nairobi.

“Tickets, especially for Third Class passenger wagons used to sell out,” he said.

With expansion of roads, however, the train began facing serious competition.

Due to the abandonment of the Kisumu route, the once-busy sections of the railway portals now lie desolate.

The main yard, once teeming with cargo handlers, is now a shadow of its former self. Pairs of rails snake from horizon to horizon, passing between structures that make the whole set-up appear like an antique athletics arena.

A stretch that used to connect the main yard to the marine dockyard is grassland always colonised by cows.

At what used to be the Third Class passenger section at the station, there are announcements engraved on notice boards, pushing polite instructions down the throats of phantom passengers. Music emanates from speakers fixed at various points and which must be a great relief to the idle guards.

Young Kenyans may not understand why it meant the world for Ronald Preston’s wife to knock the final rail key in Kisumu (then called Port Florence) and why the arrival of the first train in 1901 is part of our history.

Many were affected by termination of services to Kisumu.

Among them were 62-year-old Anastasia Ope and her 40-year-old daughter Margaret Akech, who used to sell food to Nairobi and Butere-bound passengers.

“As Christmas approached, business boomed. The profit I got by just selling nyoyo (a mixture of maize and beans) and porridge in a day was enough to cater for a month’s expenses,” Ope recalls.

For Julius Opiyo, absence of trains has increased transport costs to Nairobi.

“Using the train was cheap and the chances of an accident very minimal,” he said.

RVR says passenger train services will not return to Kisumu even after completion of the railway.

An RVR officer said passenger services were stopped because they were not profitable.

In June, KR said it was going to set up a passenger train network to Kisumu’s suburbs then extend to Vihiga, Nandi, Kericho, Nyamira, Kisii, Homabay and Siaya.

“This is part of RVR’s plan to develop passenger services in our three cities in three years. It is a step towards attracting new investments in the counties,” said the corporation’s managing director, Mr Nduva Muli.

The Thursday launch of the railway project by the President is a flicker of hope.