UPDATE: Standard gauge rail project
Posted by Judy Mwende
Laying down the rails. Photo/CBR
Kenya has signed a new deal that will extend
the Mombasa-Nairobi standard gauge railway
to Naivasha town, some 120km northwest of
the capital.
The deal was signed on Saturday by China
Road & Bridge Corp. chair Wen Gang and
Kenya Railways boss Atanas Maina in a
ceremony witnessed by President Uhuru
Kenyatta.
The commercial contract will pave the way for
construction of phase 2A of the SGR project
that will see the line head to Naivasha to link
Olkariaa special zones to Nairobi and the port
city of Mombasa to enable smooth flow of
goods and inputs.
A source privy to the deal told the
Construction Business Review on Tuesday that
Kenya expects to spend US$1.5 billion (about
Sh157 billion) to set up the Nairobi-Naivasha
railway.
The hefty cost has been blamed on the rugged
terrain and steep slopes of the Rift Valley
which will necessitate construction of several
rail bridges and tunnels.
..
Tuesday, August 25, 2015
Construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi
standard gauge railway is underway, with
officials saying the project is now running
ahead of schedule.
Chinese ambassador to Kenya Liu Xianfa said
on Monday that the contractor, China Road
and Bridge Corp., had completed half of the
construction work of bridges, culverts and
sub-grade for the project.
Ever since the start of the construction, the
railway project has achieved significant and
vigorous progress, said Dr Xianfa who added
that the design of the electric power to be
used in the railway is also complete.
He was speaking during a tour of the
Syokimau campsite, about 20km from Nairobi,
which coordinates the design and construction
of the infrastructure that will handle electric
power transmission that will be used by the
locomotives. The campsite will, on completion,
serve as the command centre for the railway
operation system.
The Sh345 billion project suffered a major
hitch in March after the supervising
consultants differed with the contractor over
the designs of culverts. The Kenyan
supervisors protested CRBCs decision to use
Chinese design standard instead of the British
standard that they were familiar with
leading to suspension of works.
The suspension of works was, however, lifted
in April after the two parties agreed to adhere
to the set requirements.
READ: Kenya railway project back on track
Since last December, the contractor has made
laudable progress on the project including
setting up two factories for the production of
sleepers and T-beams.
The two factories are located at Emali and
Kathekani, with each facility having the
capacity to produce 1.5 beams and 1,000
sleepers a day.
Sleepers are blocks that support the rails in
rail-road tracks while T-beams are used to
reinforce bridges.
Bridges will account for about 30km of the
472km railway and will be used to span
valleys, cross roads and areas where the new
railway crosses the existing metre gauge line.
The plan includes construction of a 2km
bridge over the Tsavo River as well as the
establishment of eight corridors for elephants
to pass under the line. The corridors are seven
metres high and 50 metres long each.
The standard gauge railway, whose completion
is scheduled for June 2017, will carry freight
trains at speeds of up to 80km/hour and
passenger trains at up to 120km/hour.
A standard gauge railway has a distance of
56.5 inches between its rails or between the
wheels of a train.
The new rail line will run parallel to the
existing metre gauge railway but will deviate
as appropriate in order to achieve the desired
gradient and curvature.
The project is 90 per cent funded by the China
Exim Bank, with the Kenyan government
financing the remaining 10 per cent.
READ: Kenya signs standard gauge railway
deal with China
The Mombasa-Nairobi line is expected to be
extended to Malaba, western Kenya, into
Uganda and ultimately to Kigali in Rwanda.