Author Topic: Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark  (Read 1402 times)

Offline Gikomba_Hawker

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Looks like a fun ride.

Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
Don't steal. The Uhuruto Government hates competition.

Offline RV Pundit

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Very good especially for the poor..

Offline Georgesoros

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Will they be using the colonial track???

Offline Kadudu

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What a question. Of course! You think new rails were built? Uhuru wanted the loan from the Chinese to extend SGR till Kisumu and he was shown the middle finger. Then he decided just to renovate the old railway and it seems to have worked. They just used a fraction of the sum that was needed for the SGR extension.

Will they be using the colonial track???

Offline Dear Mami

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What a question. Of course! You think new rails were built? Uhuru wanted the loan from the Chinese to extend SGR till Kisumu and he was shown the middle finger. Then he decided just to renovate the old railway and it seems to have worked. They just used a fraction of the sum that was needed for the SGR extension.

SGR was always a vanity project by spoilt Uhuru and greedy Ruto. Back when Ndii still had his wits about him, he laid out this very simple plan that NASA was going to implement if it had run govt and that was open to Jubilee to implement INSTEAD of the 3-trillion haemorrhaging SGR which was just for show and corription.

At a TOTAL cost of UNDER 500 billion, all Jubilee needed to do was modernize the entire old railway network in the whole country. Why? Because it already connects the whole country and because the govt already owns ALL the land the rail line runs through and needs to buy absolutely zero land in Naivasha or elsewhere. THEN, all they needed was to buy modern trains and lastly, they just needed to make sure to build roads everywhere that connected all counties to the rail line. Then they needed to build modern storage facilities in all the agricultural counties. This alone would go a LONG, LONG way to helping in several sectors, not just agriculture. And it would come down to under half a trillion for the whole thing, NOT 3 trillion for a non-finished project. But noooo. The disaster duo had to make such careless, foolish decisions. I will always blame them for our economic mess. I don't know why people want to sanitize them.

If Jubilee had done just this, along with the electricity lines they connected, he wouldn't need a "big 4" agenda and wouldn't need to steal the August 2017 election. The economy would have gotten better, not worse and the theft wouldn't have been AS bad without a 3-trillion shilling project.

Offline RV Pundit

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Blame Kibaki and his corrupt fatcats who gave Kenya-Uganda railway to a South African farmer for 25yrs. Then attempt to run it via their corrupt trancentury think. It wasnt until 2017 when Uganda and Kenya agreed to terminate the farmers hold on our old railway - with concession set to expire in 2031.

So we had no access to the old railway.

2ndly however much you rehabilitate the old MGR - we did 25B for this Kisumu/Malaba - it wont be used except for poor - as the design speed remain 30-40kms.

Nairobi-Mombasa passenger service is big winner - for kenyans and even tourists - from middle class to the poor.

Let us not be short term minded. Our cargo when Ndii was writting his nonsense was 17-20M metric tonnes. Now it's 35-40M tonnes - and in few more years it will be 70M metric tonnes.

SGR will not be enough - we will need more huge investment in more rails and roads.

For me the real white elephants is  ISIOLO and LAMU port. LAPSET has doubtful ROI but we should continue...because when British was building MGR in 1900...they DID THINK LONG TERM.

That MGR that we want to piggy back until forever was built when kenya economy was zero.zero but British knew it would open up the region.

It question of chicken and egg. Do you wait until Turkana develop to build roads - or do you build roads to develop Turkana.

MONEY INVESTED IN INFRASTRUCTURE CAN NEVER BE A WASTE.

We need to avoid short termism. 100yrs from now - that SGR running at decent 120kms per hour will serve us. This Kisumu is only useful for poor people who dont care about time.

If the loan will be repaid in 30yrs - why are we so woried? By 2043 - we would have finished paying for this - and next generation will find a working railway.

SGR was always a vanity project by spoilt Uhuru and greedy Ruto. Back when Ndii still had his wits about him, he laid out this very simple plan that NASA was going to implement if it had run govt and that was open to Jubilee to implement INSTEAD of the 3-trillion haemorrhaging SGR which was just for show and corription.

At a TOTAL cost of UNDER 500 billion, all Jubilee needed to do was modernize the entire old railway network in the whole country. Why? Because it already connects the whole country and because the govt already owns ALL the land the rail line runs through and needs to buy absolutely zero land in Naivasha or elsewhere. THEN, all they needed was to buy modern trains and lastly, they just needed to make sure to build roads everywhere that connected all counties to the rail line. Then they needed to build modern storage facilities in all the agricultural counties. This alone would go a LONG, LONG way to helping in several sectors, not just agriculture. And it would come down to under half a trillion for the whole thing, NOT 3 trillion for a non-finished project. But noooo. The disaster duo had to make such careless, foolish decisions. I will always blame them for our economic mess. I don't know why people want to sanitize them.

If Jubilee had done just this, along with the electricity lines they connected, he wouldn't need a "big 4" agenda and wouldn't need to steal the August 2017 election. The economy would have gotten better, not worse and the theft wouldn't have been AS bad without a 3-trillion shilling project.

Offline Georgesoros

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You keep talking about the poor. Lots of Goods that now go by road will highly benefit. These dont need 120km/h speed
also i hear SGR rarely goes beyond 72km/h

Offline RV Pundit

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At 30kms - with one  or two train snaking it's way to Nairobi the entire day to cover 350kms  - maybe cargo train at night - while Mombasa almost 500kms is covered by 5hours - and 20 cargo trains can run a day - not comparable.

Once again let avoid thinking short or medium term - when it come to investment in things like railways - you're thinking minimum 50yrs.

China are building bullet trains and we arguing about SGR.

SGR is money well spent...the benefits wont be visible now...but like old MGR...that British built...and gave rise to many towns including Nairobi....the impact will show up later.

You keep talking about the poor. Lots of Goods that now go by road will highly benefit. These dont need 120km/h speed
also i hear SGR rarely goes beyond 72km/h


Offline Njuri Ncheke

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Looks like a fun ride.

Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
...and there goes mwafrika half baked ideas as train derails.
I actually expected this ...same happened to Nanyuki train they just painted over the coaches,talk about nyeuthi ingenuity  :D
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/counties/article/2001432468/newly-launched-nairobi-kisumu-train-derails-in-muhoroni

Offline RV Pundit

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Precisely.No short cut.Chinese better run sgr

Offline Gikomba_Hawker

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Re: Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
« Reply #10 on: December 21, 2021, 11:57:05 PM »
Remember Ngei's saying? Slipping is not falling.  :D :D :D

Looks like a fun ride.

Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
...and there goes mwafrika half baked ideas as train derails.
I actually expected this ...same happened to Nanyuki train they just painted over the coaches,talk about nyeuthi ingenuity  :D
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/counties/article/2001432468/newly-launched-nairobi-kisumu-train-derails-in-muhoroni
Don't steal. The Uhuruto Government hates competition.

Offline Gikomba_Hawker

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Don't steal. The Uhuruto Government hates competition.

Offline Dear Mami

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Re: Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
« Reply #12 on: December 24, 2021, 04:46:33 AM »
At 30kms - with one  or two train snaking it's way to Nairobi the entire day to cover 350kms  - maybe cargo train at night - while Mombasa almost 500kms is covered by 5hours - and 20 cargo trains can run a day - not comparable.

Pundit, I don't get it. Why does it have to be just one or two trains in a day?

When I lived in Europe, trains were my favorite means of transportation, even across national borders--Wherever I could, I took this option. And the high speed trains were not as many as trains going by normal speeds of 60 km per hour, which were cheaper. Yet I don't remember having to wait till the next day when I missed a train? Or havingbto choose different traveling dates if I couldn't find a train that suited my preferred leaving time? I always had options of different 15-minute, 30-minute, 1-hour intervals depending on where I was going. Even in those countryside, depopulated towns, I think the most I ever saw was like two hour waits between trains.

Is the problem no trains? Then the solution is to increase them! Why exactly would we have to use just one or two trains per day if the demand for such transport exceeded that? I'm sure we can have a train leaving every half-hour or every hour or every two hours, as long as there's demand for the service. Speed alone cannot deter this.

Also, I remember Ndii saying the speed on the refurbished rail line would be 60 km an hour. Where are you getting 30-40 km? Was Ndii lying?

Offline RV Pundit

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Re: Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
« Reply #13 on: December 24, 2021, 09:30:42 AM »
I think design of old railway cannot allow for speed..many corners and all that.We need to refurbish the entire railway..which was the plan..sgr was to go through narok to bomet to nyamira kericho border to Kisumu.. opening new route..this one was to be properly refurbished to sgr standards.

Offline RV Pundit

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Re: Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
« Reply #14 on: December 24, 2021, 09:31:29 AM »
Bottom line..there is no shortcut..we need to invest money in this

Offline Georgesoros

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Re: Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
« Reply #15 on: December 24, 2021, 05:48:45 PM »
Looks like a fun ride.

Maiden Nairobi - Kisumu train roars back to life after 15 years in the dark
...and there goes mwafrika half baked ideas as train derails.
I actually expected this ...same happened to Nanyuki train they just painted over the coaches,talk about nyeuthi ingenuity  :D
https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/counties/article/2001432468/newly-launched-nairobi-kisumu-train-derails-in-muhoroni


Trial and error, until it runs smoothly.
I SUPPORT THE OLD RAIL ROAD.