Kenya Railways MD Atanas Maina addresses guests at the Syokimau Terminus
on May 31, 2018 in the event to mark the first anniversary of the
Madaraka Express. PHOTO | EVANS ABIL | NATION MEDIA GROUP
Passengers in Thursday’s 2.30pm train from Nairobi to Mombasa
could not help feeling a little special as the engine roared in
readiness to leave the Syokimau station.
Cheers and ululations from observers at the station’s platform rent the air as the train accelerated.
Some
passengers in the Economy Class coaches could not resist the urge to
capture the moment with their phones. Even the First Class lot, often
disinterested and sleepy, could not afford to just slouch on their
coaches.
It was exactly a year
since Madaraka Express was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta, and
various dignitaries were there to celebrate the moment.
The
train coloured red, white and yellow fast gathered speed, with its
coaches quickly fusing into a reddish haze. Soon it was out of eye view.
To
senior Transport ministry officials, the train’s top speed of 120
kilometres per hour has been the pace of many things around Madaraka
Express from the time it was launched.
SATISFACTORY PACE
The income, for instance, has been flowing in at a satisfactory pace, according to Kenya Railways.
KR’s
managing director Atanas Maina said on Tuesday that the passenger
service has so far made Sh1.1 billion in revenue, attributing it to
consistently high booking rates.
At no given time, he said, has the booking capacity gone lower than 90 per cent.
“The
overall seat occupancy is about 96.7 per cent, which I think is
tremendous,” he said in an interview on Tuesday. “Once in a while, you
go down to overall seat occupancy of about 90 per cent, but on the
whole, the trains have been full throughout.”
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said on Thursday that the train’s demand keeps rising.
“In
terms of passengers who are using the train, already we have exceeded
the 1.3 million mark. And the demand is growing,” he told journalists in
his office.
Currently, there
are two passenger trains plying the standard gauge railway. They make
two trips from Mombasa to Nairobi per day and two in the opposite
direction.
DOMESTIC TOURISTS
By
Tuesday, the trains — being managed by the China Road and Bridge
Corporation — had made about 1,142 trips, according to Mr Maina. Another
fast-rising aspect about Madaraka Express, according to the government,
is the number of domestic tourists at the Coast.
“Before
the launch, hotels in Mombasa were struggling in occupancy. On average,
we had like 50 per cent occupancy in Mombasa. Currently, it has gone to
almost 90 per cent,” said Mr Macharia.
The
way the public has taken up Madaraka Express services, according to Mr
Maina, has been “surprising”. Even after fare prices rose from Sh700 to
Sh1,000 in the economy class, he said there was no reduction in booking
numbers.
“We didn’t think that
the uptake could be as much as it has been. And we are now challenged to
look at how we can bring in additional services,” said Mr Maina.
Currently,
a passenger can book a train online or through dialling a code on their
phone. A person can book as many as 30 days earlier.
PROPER TRAINING
Mr
Maina said no Kenyan has reached the training threshold required to be
in control of the trains. “A passenger train, ferrying 1,100 people, is
bigger than the Boeing A380,” he said. “So, the amount of responsibility
you place on that person is enormous.”
He said that until Kenyan drivers acquire the proper training, they will continue to serve as assistants to the Chinese.
“It’s
only a year from the time we started. We’ll have to make sure that
safety standards are maintained, timelines are kept and training is
properly done,” said Mr Maina. “They’ll go through a lot of testing
before they can be allowed to steer a train ferrying 1,000 people.”
While
the reviews for the passenger service have been largely positive, the
cargo function of the standard gauge railway, which is now entering its
sixth month, has had many hiccups.
CARGO HANDLERS
In March, cargo handlers complained that the government was forcing them to use the cargo service.
Head
of Public Service Joseph Kinyua in a March 7 circular directed all
government departments to use the cargo services offered by the standard
gauge railway, which implied that truck transports would be dumped
forthwith.
But the Transport
ministry officials responsible say that the cargo service has been
making many strides away from the public eye.
Mr
Macharia said they have so far transported 25,000 containers between
Nairobi and Mombasa. He described the growth of the cargo service as
tremendous and exuded confidence that it would bring in the desired
returns. If it goes on like that, he said, a time may come when income
from cargo will be used to subsidise passenger services.
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