Mombasa-Nairobi railway popular among local passengers

Updated: June 12, 2017 Source: Belt and Road Portal
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The Mombasa-Nairobi railway has transported nearly 12,000 passengers in the first seven days of its operation, according to the railway's management company.

The 480-kilometer railway, the first modern standard gauge railway in the country, came into use on May 31.

The railway company sold nearly 14,000 tickets from June 1 to June 7, among which 2,000 tickets were collected by locals as souvenirs.

Huang Jincan, general manager of the company, said the company sold 1,366 tickets for the train, which has 1,370 seats, from Mombasa to Nairobi on June 4, the first Sunday since its operation. On that day, several hundred people were still lining up to buy a ticket in the railway station when all the tickets were sold out.

The company will add one more train departing from Nairobi and Mombasa respectively from July 1, to meet the demand of the passengers.

China Road and Bridge Corporation started building the railway in December 2014, which shortens the trip between the two cities from more than 10 hours to about 4.5 hours.

The corporation is also in charge of operating the railway for a certain period of time, and provides techniques and staff training for its Kenyan partners. 

Editor: zhangjunmian