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Passengers to pay more for SGR train journey

By HILARY KIMUYU February 2nd, 2018 1 min read

The passengers wishing to travel by the Standard Gauge Railway train Madaraka Express will from April pay almost twice the current fare of Sh700.

The Kenya Railways has announced that the promotional fare of Sh700 for passengers travelling in the economy class will be increased to Sh1,200.

Speaking to Nairobi News Kenya Railways managing director Atanas Maina however said that they are still waiting by the Transport Ministry.

“The charges could be adjusted to Sh1,200 after approvals by the Transport Ministry because the government made a deliberate decision to charge low fare to allow Kenyans from all walks of life to test the service at inception stage,” said Mr Maina.

NEW FARES

The Sh3,000 fare for first class passengers will however remain the same in the new fare regime.

When President Uhuru Kenyatta inaugurated the SGR in May 2017, the fare was fixed at Sh700 for economy class ticket and Sh3,000 for the first class ticket for passengers travelling from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa.

This was a reduction from the initial Sh900 which had been announced earlier by Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia.

The 472 km SGR railway line between Mombasa and Nairobi was constructed at a cost of Sh327 billion co-financed through commercial and semi-concessional loans from China and the Kenyan government.