Nairobi Standard Gauge from the Air

[John Ashworth]

Today I flew into Nairobi's Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from Malindi on a Dash 8, and we got remarkably clear views of the Standard Gauge Railway on the approach to JKIA.

The new Nairobi Station in South C can be clearly seen, an angular grey structure, right next to Soy Kimau commuter station. You can see the metre-gauge track from Soy Kimau curving to join the main metre-gauge line which runs parallel and right next to the standard gauge. There is a huge standard gauge yard. Loads of engineering wagons can be seen, along with their locomotives. We caught a glimpse of a passenger train at one end.

The new standard gauge line can be seen very clearly running along the edge of the national park, wiuth its viaducts and bridges. A couple of weeks ago I was following the line from Athi River to Nairobi with a UK-based amateur railway photographer, and I could clearly see the route we had taken. We had tea at Alan Donovan's famous house (which had originally been earmarked for demolition to make way for the new line, but thankfully was saved, with the line running just below the house), and that too was visible from the air.