SGR construction expanded to Naivasha

Posted on : Monday , 28th September 2015

China Road and Bridge Corporation (CRBC) in conjunction with Kenya Railways Corporation have entered into an agreement to expand the Standard Gauge Railway line. The railway line that is being built from Mombasa to Nairobi will be extended to Naivasha town, some kilometers away from Nairobi. The commercial treaty will give way for construction of phase two of the SGR project connecting Olkaria industrial park in Naivasha to Nairobi and the port of Mombasa to ease flow of goods.

 

In the expansion project, the Kenyan government aims to spend about KES157bn to set up the Nairobi-Naivasha line. At the moment, the SGR project is on schedule with half completion of works at the bridge, culverts and sub-grade sections.Also, design of the electric power to be used in the railway is complete and two factories built in Emali and Kathekani to produce 1,000 sleepers and 1.5 beams per day. Sleepers are blocks that support rail in rail-road tracks while T-beams are used to reinforce bridges.

The SGR project which is worth KES345bn will change the economic and social growth of the Kenyan market. It will open new industrial parks being built along the route, create direct employment to the locals and grow the country’s Gross Domestic Product to 1.5 per cent.  To aid in capacity building and training, CRBC intends to set up a railway transfer center in Voi to train key personnel in construction of the new railway line.

In July 2015, railway wagons arrived at the site that will be used in the laying of the SGR line towards Nairobi from section 7 campsites in Emali.  The types of wagons are; the covered wagons, ballast open-top hoppers and the flat bed type wagons. Construction of SGR lines are complete and the track laying machine in place.  Actual laying of tracks will begin once civil works are finalized. The Mombasa- Nairobi line is expected to be extended to Malaba into Uganda and lastly to Kigali, Rwanda.