Nairobi rail commuters: One lot travels in absolute comfort

[John Ashworth]

One lot travels in absolute comfort, for the other it’s just a means to get home

In Summary

- Commuters on the Syokimau route easily get their tickets before boarding spacious compartments with comfortable seats where they can get some work done on their laptops while, those on the Embakasi route travel in crowded, run-down coaches with poor ventilation, not to mention noisy hawkers.
- While offering an alternative from the legendary traffic jams that plague Mombasa road and salvation from the twins of misery for every motorist--boda bodas and heavy trucks—it transforms a normal commute which takes an average of two hours at peak time to one of a maximum of 40 minutes when the train has been good.
- There are many things than can go wrong and causing a delays, and when this happens there are few alternatives besides taking a hike.