Kenya Railways has today (Monday) run the first trial train with cargo from Mombasa which arrived via the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) line and was transhipped onto the Metre Gauge Railway (MGR) line for onward transportation to Malaba.

The cargo which was loaded at the Port of Mombasa and transported via SGR was seamlessly transhipped onto the MG line at the Naivasha Inland Container Depot (NICD), and is destined for Malaba.

The SGR/MGR paves way for seamless transportation of cargo to the Great Lakes Region including neighbouring countries of  Uganda, Burundi, DR Congo, South Sudan, parts of Tanzania and Rwand.

According to Kenya Railways, Mombasa to the Malaba Railway Railway Yard, via Naivasha ICD, cargo will take 36 hours compared to road transport which takes 96 hours. Similarly, it will cost $860 per TEU compared to road which costs $ 2032 per TEU

According to Kenya Rilways Managing Director Philip Mainga, this will further enhance efficiencies and ease the transshipment process.

Mainga noted “We will have regular, speedy, and reliable delivery of cargo through well-organized trains schedules with strict timetables for the evacuation of cargo and empty container repatriation from the Inland Container Terminals.

This comes just days after Kenya Railways and the tea development agency launched their partnership to transport tea via the SGR from Nairobi to the port of Mombasa.

Under the partnership, tea from KTDA-managed factories will be transported from the tea growing counties to the Nairobi Freight Terminal.

KTDA transported 31 containers of packed tea on their maiden trip from the partnership.