Syokimau Railway Station to be Commissioned on Tuesday

The New Syokimau  Railway Station
Image Courtesy of transport.go.ke

President Mwai Kibaki will on Tuesday, November 13, 2012 commission the Syokimau Railway Station along Mombasa Road, marking another milestone in efforts to realize various projects envisaged under the Vision 2030 Economic Blueprint.

The contractor, El Noor General Contractor Ltd handed over the 400 million-shilling station to the Kenya Railway Corporation (KRC) earlier this week, and it will be officially open to the public from Tuesday.

Nairobi rail transport: Syokimau Station

The proposed station
source: vision2030.go.ke

The 2.2 kilometre railway line that connects the newly built Syokimau station with the old Embakasi line is complete. It has cost Ksh 200 million and is expected to be fully operational by the end of July. This comes after the last extension of the Kenya-Uganda railway line [Kisumu-Butere] by the British colonialist back in the 30s.

The Syokimau station will be the first of 10 similar hubs that Kenya Railways plans to construct in partnership with private investors. The other 6.5 kilometre rail line will connect Embakasi to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) and construction will start July 2013.

Nairobi commuter rail system is expected to interlink satellite towns which include Kikuyu, Kiserian and Ngong and later converge at the Central Business District.

Unfortunately, the construction of the railroad will have the residents of Mukuru Kwa Njenga slums evicted.

Other reforms that the government is opting to take in line with vision 2030 include the replacement of the 14 seater matatus with higher capacity public service buses and a mobile taxi service that work without parking areas.