Refurbished Nairobi-Nanyuki railway begins operations

The rehabilitated 240-kilometre Nairobi-Nanyuki metered gauge railway has commenced operations ahead of commissioning by President Uhuru Kenyatta.

Vivo Energy; the operator of Shell branded petrol stations, is expected to become the anchor tenant of the rehabilitated line which cost tax payers Ksh.1.8 billion.

The firm is expected to use the line to boost its supply into Nanyuki minimizing on their reliance on fuel tankers.

The company is set to lift up to five million litres of fuel on the line every month with plans to scale up capacity to 15 million litres.

Petroleum products are expected to the rail’s mainstay with Kenya Railways setting prices at Ksh.82,000 for a single 50-tonne of fuel tank with a tonne costing Ksh.1,640.

Laikipia Governor Ndiritu Muriithi expects the refurbished line to open the next chapter for the region’s economic prosperity.

“This line will not only enable us import critical products such as fuel and farm inputs, but it will also improve our capacity to export our homegrown agricultural products to intended markets on time and in an efficient way,” he said.

Petroleum Principal Secretary Andrew Kamau expects the line to provide cost flexibilities in the transportation of fuel in the greater Mt. Kenya and Northern Kenya.

“As government we are very excited that with funds that came from KPC, Kenya Railways has been able to execute this project within a few months and we look forward to its commissioning very soon,”.

Kenya Railways (KR) is expecting to generate over Ksh.370.4 million revenue per year from the revived line.

The corporation says it has finalised negotiations on proposed rates with the business community for the cargo and passenger trains with the bulk of the revenue coming from the commercial operations.