Friends of the Rail Forum

Kenya plans $100 mln commuter train upgrade

Wed Apr 15, 2009 2:08pm GMT

* Plans $100 mln commuter train expansion, upgrade

* London-based InfraCo to fund feasibility study

* New service to start in 2012

By Helen Nyambura-Mwaura

NAIROBI, April 15 (Reuters) - Kenya signed A joint venture agreement with infrastructure development trust InfraCo on Wednesday for an 8 billion shilling ($100 million) upgrade and expansion of Nairobi's decrepit commuter railway system.

The London-based private infrastructure development trust will undertake a feasibility study, which is expected to cost up to $5 million.

State-owned Kenya Railways said the deal will be completed by 2012. Private consortium Rift Valley Railways' five-year concession agreement to manage passenger rail service ends in late 2011.

"We want to modernise the infrastructure, improve the rail quality, build new stations and halls, and then we will be providing infrastructure that encourages other transport mode interactions such as park-and-ride," Kenya Railways Managing Director Nduva Muli said.

Muli said the project will expand the network to cover 170 km (106 miles), up from 61 km currently, and the railway plans to introduce 196 Diesel Electric Multiple Unit (DEMU) carriages, which will cut occupancy rates from more than 200 percent to about 80 percent.

Kenya Railways said the city's trains currently carry about 19,000 people a day on 41 carriages, bringing in 475,000 shillings.

People who take the train to work are squashed inside old and run down carriages if they are lucky -- others must hang precariously from car doors. Most Kenyans living in the capital city use minibuses, which are often badly driven and poorly maintained.

Once the project is completed the system is expected to carry more than 90,000 passengers and bring in more than 7.3 million shillings daily.

"There is a viable business case for the implementation of high quality commuter systems in Nairobi and the environs," Muli said during the signing ceremony with InfraCo.

A dedicated rail line for passenger trains between Nairobi and Jomo Kenyatta International Airport will also come as a relief to travellers.

Currently, the road to the airport is often so jammed with traffic that people have to leave hours early to make their flights.

"That (new rail line) will mean we'll have a very quick service without interruption or having to stop for passing trains between the airport and the city," he said.

Muti said the feasibility study, design, procurement of contractors and bringing investors on board will take about 24 months, after which infrastructure and rolling stock upgrades will begin and last another 18 months, in time for the handover from Rift Valley Railways (RVR).

Both Kenya and Uganda have said that RVR, which has had concessions to operate the railways in both countries since 2006, has failed to improve their networks, which are more than 100 years old. ($1=79.95 Kenyan shillings) (Editing by Karen Foster)

© Thomson Reuters 2009

State firm signs deal to revamp railway services

By WACHIRA KANG’ARU
Daily Nation
Posted Wednesday, April 15 2009 at 16:27

By 2012, travelling between the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and Nairobi’s central business district could take about 17 minutes at a frequency of every 30 minutes.

Also set to ease is travelling between Nairobi and Thika, Nakuru, Athi River and towns in between that are currently served by the railway line.

That, though, will only be possible if the Kenya Railways Corporation is able to carry out its first successful project since the railway line was constructed over 105 years ago.

And alive to its past record, the State corporation has retained the services of InfraCo - a company owned by the World Bank and six other international donor agencies - to carry out a feasibility study and implement the project over the next four years.

By then, the current contract giving Rift Valley Railways (RVR) exclusive rights to manage and operate passenger train services in Nairobi will have expired, opening it up to competition.

RVR will, however, retain exclusive rights to manage and operate cargo train services, which it was awarded for 25 years.

On Wednesday, the two - Kenya Railways and InfraCo - signed a joint development agreement to upgrade and expand the commuter rail transport services in Nairobi and its environs.

The project, estimated to cost between Sh8 billion and Sh12 billion, will see construction of a new railway line connecting JKIA and the city centre.

More suitable

It will also entail replacement of the current locomotive trains with Diesel Electric Multiple Units said to be more suitable and efficient for use as passenger carriers.

InfraCo will fund the initial cost of the project and will recoup the money by selling its interest to the private sector if the project becomes successful.

If it fails, the money used will be written off as a grant to the Kenyan Government, meaning Kenya Railways bears no risk in the implementation of project.

“InfraCo’s willingness to take such a huge risk should tell you that the project is highly viable and has a great chance of success,” said Kenya Railways managing director Nduva Muli.

The other six donor agencies that jointly own InfraCo with the World Bank are Swedish International Development Agency, United Kingdom Department for International Development, Swiss State Secretariat for Foreign Affairs, Netherlands Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Irish AID and Austrian Development Agency.

If successful, the project will increase the current carrying capacity of the rail from 19,000 to 100,000 passengers per day.

Together with other revenue generating avenues that the project will create, the State corporation will see its income rise to over Sh7 million per day up from the current less than Sh500,000 in the same period.