Kenya Railways Corporation, a government-owned rail operator, launched its cargo service on the new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in January 2018. The new Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), also called the Madaraka Express, connects Mombasa Port, the largest port in East Africa, and Nairobi. This 472km-long line is the first phase of the SGR project that aims to connect Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda and South Sudan and created around 30,000 jobs during construction.
The Mombasa-Nairobi SGR, the heaviest infrastructure project in Kenya in the last five decades, aims to not only shorten passenger travel times from Mombasa to Nairobi but also to substantially improve the effectiveness of the country’s commercial freight service. Indeed, the designed freight carrying capacity of the railway is 22 million tons per annum. There is currently one daily train available with plans to increase to 8 in the future and each train has a haulage capacity of 54 double stack flat wagons carrying 4,000 tons (216 TEUS) with a designed speed of 80 km per hour.
Because of the speed and reliability of the SGR, the service is included as a mode of transport in its specialized commodities and exports such as coffee, tea, beans, hides and skins among others.
Clearing and documentation services is handled at the main port in Mombasa or at the customs-controlled ICD Facility in Nairobi. The SGR has also been beneficial for both local imports and transit imports, cutting down transit times from Mombasa to Nairobi by 24 hours.
Contact our Sales and Customer Service team to find out more about our logistics packages on + 254 752 521892 or +254 717840336.