Several attempts to decongest the city failed after the government experimented with banning public service vehicles from Nairobi’s city centre. The city also announced a plan to introduce car-free days, a plan that was criticised as ill-thought-out given the county’s pedestrian-unfriendly infrastructure. Kenya Railways (KR) has announced plans to acquire 11 refurbished Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs), five coaches and spare parts from a Spanish State Company at the cost of Sh1.15 billion to improve its commuter rail services within Nairobi. Kenya Railways says the trains have a lifespan of 23-25 years and their purchase will necessitate the building of nine new stations.
KR also insist that revamping of the rail sector is set to increase the daily number of passengers from 13,000 daily to 132,000 commuters. Kenya Railways will deploy the new DMUs in five routes: from Nairobi Central Station to Syokimau, Embakasi Village, Thika, Kikuyu and Kitengela. Kenya Railways will also build nine new stations: Kenyatta University, Umoja, Kibera, Thogoto, Mbagathi Way, Thika, Kitengela, Dagoretti and Strathmore University.
A report on the local dailies indicated, in order to provide efficient commuter rail services to support the vibrant economy of the Nairobi Metropolitan, Kenya Railways has developed a Master Plan for Nairobi Metropolitan Commuter Rail. The decision to import the old train was reached after Cabinet meeting on December 5 last year in which Treasury mandarin Henry Rotich was instructed to allocate Sh10billion for the project. The rushed plan raised suspicions on just how they are going to operate given findings of a report that questions their low capacity, weaker engines and in Nairobi’s single-track railway system.
According to Kenya Railways, it will acquire the 11 refurbished DMUs, five coaches and spare parts from Serveis Ferroviaris de Mallorca (SFM) at a negotiated price of Sh1.15 billion. The DMUs have a remaining economic useful life of 23-25 years. The Corporation defended the acquisition of the refurbished DMUs saying that they were cheaper and ready for use compared to newer ones, which are costly and take time to be acquired.
“The cost of new similar DMUs range from Sh590-940 million and would take a minimum lead time of five years to acquire 11 new DMUs at a total cost of Sh6.5-10.3 billion with a design life of 30-40 years,” Kenya Railways said.The commuter rail currently transports only 1 per cent of city passenger traffic during the peak hours in Nairobi. The DMUs are expected to arrive in the country from June.