After endorsing the Bus Rapid Transport on the Kenyan road, there has been a twist of events as it turns out the plan wont continue due to new analysis.The government has embarked on a plan to reintroduce a vibrant commuter train services within the city, revealed Transport CS James Macharia.
The CS said the government has opted to introduce more trains as opposed to buses amid efforts to reduce congestion in the city.
According to the star Macharia said so far, two PSs from the Infrastructure Ministry have traveled to Spain to finalise transactions on the trains.
“We are currently focusing on two main routes. The first one is the Syokimau to CBD and the second one is the Ruiru-CBD,” he said.
Macharia said the two routes will provide an alternative to the much anticipated Bus Rapid Transit system, but will not replace BRT.
“We shall still be doing the BRT only that it is faster if we go the commuter trains way. We do not need any land and the tracks are already in place.”
“All we are doing now is renovate the tracks and the stations to which passengers will use,” he told journalists in a presser.
He said the ministry is also seeking partnership to acquire more diesel powered engines to facilitate the plan.
“With implementation of the commuter trains plan, we expect to have more space to work on the BRT project,” Macharia said.
He said an analysis of BRT shows it requires a lot of infrastructure and that its configuration will also take some time.
Macharia said the BRT project will require some Sh7 billion and the government will co-fund with World Bank.
In June, the CS said it was not easy to implement the BRT project as Nairobi lacks adequate space.
He attributed the problem to poor planning of the city, saying it does not have a dedicated lane for buses.
But he said the ministry intends to create the Nairobi Metropolitan Area Transport Authority to address issues concerning public transport.
The government had in April announced that Thika Road will have a dedicated lane for public service vehicles.