Kenya Railways flip flops on Madaraka Express operations
Kenya Railways on Wednesday issued conflicting reports on the resumption of the services of the Madaraka Express.
Earlier in the morning, the corporation announced it had suspended its services from Thursday, August 10, until further notice, citing safety concerns to their passengers, their crew and the commuter trains.
“All passengers who had already purchased travel tickets will be refunded for the same, and afforded the first user rights to reschedule their tickets and travel once we resume operations. In this regard all our termini will remain closed until such a time as we lift the suspension,” said its managing director Atanas Maina.
“All passengers who had already purchased travel tickets will be refunded for the same, and afforded the first user rights to reschedule their tickets and travel once we resume operations. In this regard all our termini will remain closed until such a time as we lift the suspension,” said Mr Maina.
ABOUT TURN
However, hours later, the corporation fired another statement to newsrooms to make an about turn and declare that the services will resume.
“Kenya Railways wishes to retract its earlier statement on the suspension of operations on the Madaraka Express. Following a security meeting and review, Kenya Railways will resume all services on both the Madaraka Express and the Nairobi commuter rail service. Additional security measures have been taken to ensure the safety of both passengers and our operations across the country.
“This statement pupersedes our earlier statement,” the statement signed by Mr Maina said.
The Madaraka Express resumed services on Wednesday on the Nairobi – Mombasa route without a hitch, with passengers departing on schedule.
The connecting Syokimau connect service also ran on schedule.
The train did not operate on Tuesday August 8, 2017, during the general elections to allow staff and service providers to vote in the general elections.
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