A new inter-county night train will now be available on Monday on the Nairobi-Mombasa standard gauge railway (SGR), adding trips on the route in a bid to ease increased demand.
This is after the Kenya Railways Corporation introduced two new Madaraka Express commuter rail services on the route ahead of schools reopening.
In a notice, the rail transport regulator said two trains would depart from Nairobi and Mombasa termini concurrently at 9pm stopping at each of the seven intermediate stages in the six-hour journey.
However, Kenya Railways did not specify how long the new night service would be in operation.
Transport Cabinet Secretary James Macharia had earlier announced an elaborate plan to facilitate the movement of learners as schools reopened on Monday.
Part of the plan included increasing rail trips to ease pressure on the public transport sector as learners travel back to school across the country.
Kenya Railways has also added more trains on its Nairobi Commuter Rail Service that operates from Nairobi city centre to Ruiru, Embakasi, Syokimau and Kikuyu stations.
“We want to make sure that the movement of children to school is seamless and that is why we must have more trains. We are urging matatu operators to cooperate,” said Mr Macharia.
At the same time, the Corporation has introduced a back-to-school Nanyuki safari train on the Nairobi-Nanyuki route with stops at Thika, Mitubiri, Makuyu, Maragua, Murang’a, Sagana, Karatina, Kiganjo and Naro Moru.
Nanyuki service
The trains depart at 9am from Nairobi and Nanyuki with passengers paying Sh200 for the economy class and Sh1,000 for the business class.
The two trains will operate on Monday and Tuesday to ease the burden as thousands of pupils and students go back to school.
Mr Macharia said about 1,500 learners and parents will be ferried through the Nairobi-Nanyuki refurbished railway line.
