Transport Cabinet Secretary Kipchumba Murkomen announced plans to extend the Standard Guage Railway (SGR) line to Kisumu county and other towns in the coming months.
Speaking during an event in Nairobi county on Thursday, December 8, Murkomen stated that the government was keen on reverting back to the initial SGR plan.
He indicated that his ministry was also looking to extend the line to Nakuru City and Eldoret.
Murkomen intimated that Nakuru would be given the first priority, with the government working on modalities to release funds for the project.
“We must ensure that it connects to a busy town so people can travel with SGR to Nakuru. Later, we will connect it to Eldoret, Kisumu before it goes to Uganda.
“In the next few months, we should start connecting it to Nakuru,” he stated.
The CS explained that the SGR line had ended in Suswa town despite initial plans to have it reach Uganda.
Murkomen elucidated that the move would be beneficial in revolutionising the transport sector while creating job opportunities for thousands of Kenyans simultaneously.
“The project will create more jobs. We do not want the railway to end somewhere in Suswa,’ Murkomen expressed.
Additionally, he revealed that Kenya Railways was planning in modernising its coaches to offer more comfort to its customers.
“We are doing massive infrastructure development in Kenya Railways, there will be the refurbishment of the old wagons, and this will create jobs,’ he stated.
Murkomen made the statements hours after Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni announced that they had revived their SGR project linking Kampala to Kenya’s Malaba border.
Initially, the SGR line was to run from Mombasa to Kisumu. However, due to fund constraints, the line ended in Suswa even as the government opted to rehabilitate the old Meter Guage Railway (MGR) line.
Source: kENYANS.CO.KE