Friends of the Rail Forum

Standard gauge railway ground breaking set for this week

IN SUMMARY

- The construction of the modern rail will is expected to lower commodity prices through the more efficient transportation system
- It will help accelerate the country’s economic growth through the development of areas where stations will be located
- China’s Exim Bank is funding 85 per cent of the project through loan and the rest for the funds will be provided by the Kenya Government
- Kenya Railways Corporation is expecting a four-and-a-half-hour passenger ride between Nairobi and Mombasa on the trains which will travel at 120 kilometres per hour down from the current slightly over 12 hours

Mombasa-Kigali rail groundbreaking set for Nov. 28

Construction of high-speed railway line to begin this week

There's a lot in the Daily Nation today about the ground-breaking for the new standard gauge railway.

Building of Sh1.2trn railway starts on Thursday (ie today)

Four presidents to attend ground-breaking ceremony

Four more MPs criticise standard gauge railway tender

Uhuru’s railway could give birth to very ‘strange’ things in East Africa

There's also an article which I can't find online entitled "Dockers in court to block railway project", a two page colour spread lauding "The Launch of the Construction of Standard gauge Railway: Mombasa-Kampala-Kigali-Juba", and a photo on the front page of President Uhuru Kenyatta being presented with a model of "a modern train" (aka a Chinese diesel locomotive).

Edited to add: The picture of the model train can be seen in the second link. While searching for it online, I also found a picture of Uhuru Kenyatta's father, Mzee Jomo Kenyatta, inspecting his train in 1965. The story and caption can be found here.

And from the BBC (who also had a piece about it on BBC World Service radio):

Kenya launches new railway to reach South Sudan and Burundi

"The project will define my legacy as president of Kenya" [President Uhuru Kenyatta]

Note that the piece of track pictured has concrete sleepers.

Kenya eyes trade benefits from planned Chinese-built railway

Kenya launches $13.8bn China-built railway to boost trade (includes video)

It even makes it into the Sudanese and South Sudanese media:

Kenya launches construction of regional railway line

Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=siZdDjBL1Q8

There's also another article in today's Daily Nation entitled "Railway line will drastically reduce the cost and time of travel".

Edited to add: Found it! Railway set to cut cost and time of travel

‘MoKaKi’ project breaks ground in Mombasa

It should really be called "MoKaKiJu", as there are plans to extend it to Juba!

Why town longs for the roar of morning train

Interesting perspective from Kisumu.

Railways seems to be the theme of the day in the Kenyan media this week!

Bitter-sweet railway tales