Tuesday, July 31, 2018

Madaraka Express targets to ferry 1.7m passengers annually

Passengers aboard a Madaraka Express train. Passengers aboard a Madaraka Express train. PHOTO | SALATON NJAU | NMG 
Madaraka Express targets to ferry 1.7 million passengers annually by June 2019. Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina said yesterday that the train service had handled 1.5 million passengers by June.
“SGR passenger users reached the 1.5 million mark in June but we want to increase that to at least 1.7 million by next June,” he said in an interview.
Mr Maina said they rescheduled passengers’ reporting time because of customer demands and ensuring efficiency. Under the new schedule, the express train will leave Nairobi for Mombasa at 14:35pm daily to arrive at 19:18pm, while the Mombasa train will leave at 15:15pm and arrive in Nairobi at 20:14pm.
The inter-county train will leave Nairobi at 8:20am, arrive at Athi River at 8:40am before leaving for Emali at 8:43am.
On the other hand, the inter-county train from Mombasa will leave at 8am and is expected in Nairobi at 13:42pm.
Fares from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa were earlier in the year revised to Sh1,000 for economy class and Sh3,000 for first class. “Some customers complained that the Mombasa train left too early and requested that we adjust the time to be like the Nairobi one,” Mr Maina said.
“Now people have more time to get to the terminus. They don’t have to wake up too early. It is convenient and the time is the same. We just reduced our timing for turnaround,” he said.
Mr Maina refuted claims by Container Freight Stations and transporters that the SGR had pushed hundreds of people out of jobs.
He said that the trains cannot ferry all the cargo from Mombasa port.
“There is enough cargo for everyone, both for other modes of transport and for the SGR. The port is still receiving 30 million tonnes of cargo annually. We are nowhere near that, not even half of that.
“We just have to do five million tonnes at the end of the year, so there is a lot more to be ferried through various modes of transport,” he said.
He said that plans were on course to increase freight trains to 12 “since there is enough cargo to warrant that.”
Last week, the Kenya Transporters Association (KTA) said that about 500 truck drivers had lost their jobs because of the SGR. KTA Operations Coordinator Mercy Ireri said the government’s intervention in cargo handling and transport through the SGR had skewed the transport model, thus affecting its members.
“A cargo train carries 108 containers and makes seven trips daily. That means that more than 500 truck drivers are currently jobless. Hundreds of trucks have no business, this is to the detriment of our members who have pumped billions of shillings into buying trucks, trailers and other infrastructure,” she said.
Ms Ireri said that the road haulage industry creates millions of direct and indirect jobs, adding that the livelihoods of Kenyans were at stake should the government continue to push for use of the SGR at the expense of road haulage.
“We welcome fair competition but what the government is doing now is unfair.
“It has not shown any interest in meeting our members, several requests to the Transport and Infrastructure CS have been futile,” she said.
Ms Ireri said that road haulage companies had found themselves increasingly burdened with rising fuel prices, red tape and government policies aimed at weakening the industry.
“We are concerned by these developments, the government should make attempts to reassure road haulage companies that they still remain a key part of its plans,” she said.
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