Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) will begin providing hourly rides on its Diesel Multiple Units(DMUs) for Nairobi Commuters after receiving the second batch of six more trains from Spain.
According to Omudho Awitta, KRC Chairman, the six trains will enable the corporation to increase its train frequencies within the city. The six DMUs join the other five that arrived last year and have been plying the Syokimau –Nairobi and Embakasi –Nairobi routes.
Kenya Railways Corporation Commuter Services in Nairobi
KRC operates five times on the Syokimau –Nairobi route and three times on the Embakasi-Nairobi line.
The 11 DMUs will now be running hourly services across the city on the Nairobi-Embakasi, Nairobi-Ruiru, Nairobi-Kikuyu, Nairobi-Syokimau, as well as the Athi River- Nairobi line.
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Kenya Railways Corporation plans to increase the capacity of commuter services within the city from 13,000 to 132,000 passengers a day by 2022. The DMUs can carry a maximum of 128 seated and 130 standing passengers with a maximum load of 774 passengers.
The Nairobi Commuter Rail Service aims to increase capacity from 5Million passengers to 15Million passengers initially, then to 60Million passengers per year in Phase 1.
The first phase of the Kenya Railways Corporation projects will also involve establishing new stations in Buru Buru, Pipeline, Umoja, Githurai and Donholm. This is in addition to having trains to Ruiru, Syokimau, Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Kikuyu, and Embakasi Village.
Syokimau, Makadara, and Imara Daima railway stations are complete and operational. Phase 2 will involve extending commuter rail services to Thika, Limuru, and Lukenya. The last phase will target links to outlying satellite towns such as Ongata Rongai, Kiserian, Ngong, Kiambu, Ruai and Kangemi.
Jackson Okoth from the Kenyan Wallstreet contributed to this article
