The railway line links Nairobi city centre to other various parts of the country,besides the East African community.
With the planned railway system upgrade,it means people close to the system have to shift.This has brought mixed feelings among residents,some of whom are not ready to vacate. Seemingly, its either they don’t see the danger of being close to the railway line or is it just ignorance!
Already the railway line linking the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport and its subsidiary stations will begin operations in June next year.
Construction work on the line was over 70 percent complete,as it is from the Kenya Railways corporation management news desk.
The other area,syokimau service station,that is already under construction,which will link to JKIA,will begin operations in February 2012.
The line linking the city centre to JKIA is expected to start operations in June, as KRC moves to improve the railway network.
There are also plans to put the corporation idle land to more useful way.
With this in place,although its been lagged behind,the issue of traffic congestion in Nairobi and other major cities are set to be reduced.This is also cost effective as compared to the normal commuter means.
The main reason for the increase in traffic problems is because of the rise in the rural Urban migration,of people in search for jobs and business opportunities.
Consequently, there has become an increase in the demand for housing and transport facilities,of which currently the supply of these services do not meet the demand of the people.
Already a master plan for a high-speed railway network that will service all parts of the country to accelerate faster movement of people and goods has been developed.
The proposed rails include Lamu to Juba, Rongai to Kisumu, Nairobi to Addis Ababa, Mombasa to Malaba, and Kisumu to Kigali lines.
KRC expect to construct a completely new line, which will link Nairobi city centre to Embakasi and then JKIA.
The Sh40 billion ultra-modern railway line linking Kisumu to the hinterland and East African countries is to be rolled out next year.
The KRC will roll out the project once it is through with thorough feasibility studies, which will factor socio-economic and political interests.
The work is expected to start by late next year,all in the aim of improving the railway system.The move will see more goods being transported by rail than road,paving way to more savings on roads repair cost.
On average,eight percent of goods are transported by rail compared to 92 percent by road within the region.The conceded railway network in kenya comprises of a total track lenght of 1920 kilometres,which runs from Kenya’s Indian ocean port of mombasa to malaba while the conceded railway network in Uganda has a total track lenght of 1771 kilometres,made up of the malaba-kampala main line.RVR operates a total network of 1920 kilometres.The main line runs from mombasa at the coast to malaba in the west.
Despite the requirement to have a railway reserve free for the railway operations and safety,parts of the railway reserve have been encroached upon.
The railway reserve in both Kibera and Mukuru within Nairobi city have been encroached by large numbers of people who reside and do their business along the railway line.
Market centers have been established on either sides of the railway line.When implemented this initiative is expected to create significance economic and social benefits to both Kenya and the East A frican community,and will contribute to regional efforts to accelerate economic growth.
It is also expected to play a major role in poverty alleviation.