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One of the 60 double-stack wagons that arrived at the port of Mombasa on June 15, 2017. /ELKANA JACOB
The Kenya Railways Corporation has received 60 double-stack wagons for the Standard Gauge Railway freight services.
KRC Managing Director Atanas Maina said this is the last batch of wagons this year.
Double stack wagons are able to transport containers with one placed on top of the other.
"More are expected by next year," Maina said.
Currently, the SGR uses single-stack and open wagons to transport cargo to Nairobi.
Speaking on Saturday at the port of Mombasa while receiving the consignment from China, Maina said they expect the SGR freight services to kick off by December.
Trials for the service has been ongoing through daily transportation of government relief food from Mombasa to Nairobi, he said.
"We are hopeful by early January we shall have fully rolled out the freight services," said the MD.
Maina said the KRC board has also come up with transportation tariffs for cargo.
"We are waiting for Cabinet Secretary's approval before we announce this to the stakeholders," he said.
A 20-foot container will cost Sh50,000 to transport from Mombasa to Nairobi.
One cargo train, pulling single-stack wagons, has a capacity of up to 88 twenty-foot containers.
With double stack wagons, the train will have a capacity of transporting over 200 containers in one trip, Maina said.
Passenger trains on the new generation line kicked off on May 29 with its official launch on May 31.
Kenya receives 60 double-stack wagons for SGR