Friends of the Rail Forum

As dawn broke, Concilia Owire, a 28-year-old locomotive driver, had already changed into her work uniform as she stopped by the work area for alcohol testing and pre-job registration. When all was ready, Owire and her colleague set off for the locomotive depot, embarking on a new journey. Growing up in a rural hamlet in western Kenya, Owire never thought about becoming her country's first female train driver one day as the women from her time still suffered from the limitations of patriarchy and poverty, leading most to shy away from pursuing careers that were dominated by men. However, the Chinese-built modern railway – the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) – has transformed her life...