Some 150 more cargo wagons have been delivered for the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line at the Port of Mombasa.
The flat wagons will be used for freight transportation once the SGR starts operation.
This is the second batch of wagons delivered under the SGR line development in Kenya following delivery of 60 open wagons last month.
The 25-tonne axle flat wagons are suited for operations on the 1435mm SGR line; could carry a payload of 70 tonnes and are designed to run at 120 km/hr.
Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina received the wagons at the port of Mombasa.
He said the wagons will be used to ferry all types of containers — large-size cargo including steel, automobiles, tractors and box-cargo.
“The demand for transportation in the country today exceeds the capacity of the roads and the existing railway line. These flat wagons will provide a working solution for transportation of freight in the country and will go a long way in decongesting the Port of Mombasa.
“Once we commence operations, railway transport will increase its market share of the total freight and cargo transport in the country,” Mr Maina said.
Three types of wagons have been ordered for operations on the SGR line: Open-top wagons, Covered wagons and flat wagons.
Operations on the SGR line will engineer a significant shift of freight transported from road to rail. Freight trains on the SGR line are able to haul 4,000 tonnes per trip and 22 million tonnes per annum.
These will translate to less wear and tear on roads and will significantly contribute to growth in the nation’s GDP.
Kenya Railways has since received eight freight haulage heavy duty locomotives for mainline use out of 43 that are expected, two shunting locomotives out of the eight on order, two passenger locomotives with another three expected by May to complete the order.
Some 32 passenger coaches out of the 40 on order and 210 wagons out of the total order of 1,620 have also been delivered.
Mr Maina said plans are at an advanced stage to bring on board the operations and maintenance team before the planned launch on June 1, this year.
A high level team from the Ministry of Transport is expected to inspect the SGR from Nairobi to Mombasa next week.
The tour is meant to inspect the completed rail track, the railway stations and to ride the trains as part of the ongoing test runs.
Source: Daily Nation
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