Kenya Railway System in 2030

The year is 2030, and sitting on the train from Mutindwa in Buru Buru to the city center with my friend from the US. I couldn’t help but smile in pride as I watched my awe struck friend admire our Nairobi train service. Having left the country some 15 years ago, he felt like the plane dropped him off in South Africa rather than Kenya.

When he left Kenya, Outer Ring Road was a typical two lane tarmac road, now it was a four lane highway on each side. He smiled as he cruised through Thika Super Highway to Outer Ring Highway and then branching off at Mutindwa to take another  train ride in the new Nairobi Metro Service.

As we parked in the train station car park I stopped my friend from reaching out for his wallet to pay for the tickets and removed my metro card. We intended to take the train to City Stadium and then take a city bus to the middle of the city center. It was possible for a while now to use the metro card for train and bus rides in the city of Nairobi. 

In say the year 2014 when half the transport industry in Kenya was dominated by Matatus, there was a lot of doubt about where the train service project was headed to. The new political administration had promised to deliver such a project, the physical plans and architectural designs had been public knowledge for some time now. But in the eyes of the public, only witnessing an operational train service seemed to be the only thing that could quench their pessimism. Now there were just as many train routes as there were matatus if not more. The same integrated transport system had been replicated in all major cities in Kenya such Mombasa, Kisumu, Eldoret, Nakuru, Garissa and towns such as Nyeri, Siaya and Turkana. 

It is remembered that the first modern train station was launched by the third president some 15 years ago. He set the bar so to speak for successive president. So much so, that the 4th president ran for election on the platform of modernizing our train transport. He was quick to show his commitment to this dream of many but as it is in all democratic societies, reaching a by partisan approach to even such an important project was no walk in the park. The event to launch the architectural design of the entire train network in Nairobi was met with mixed reaction. There was rebuke and ridicule for what many saw as an event of little significance compared to the magnitude of the overall undertaking. It seemed that with a history of ghost projects, the people wanted to board real train and not stand to look at train models on a table.

However critics were proved wrong when the 4th president and his deputy launched simultaneous maiden train rides, one from Nairobi to Malaba through Kisumu and the other one from Nairobi to Mombasa. The president took the train from Nairobi to Mombasa and his Deputy took the train to Malaba. Within 3 hours both trains had reached their destination and the president was giving a speech in Mombasa as the deputy president was doing the same in Kisumu.  However the hallmark of the launch was when the deputy called the president on his cell to announce his arrival and both chatted away on speaker phone in the full glare of the media. 

Back to my friend, before this train ride from Mutindwa, he had already taken the train from where there used to be a roundabout dissecting Outer Ring and Juja road to city center and onwards to Kawangware. This ride on Juja Road was particularly memorable because the train tracks runs in the middle of the road with vehicular traffic going on different directions on each side of the train track. The tracks had elevated stations on both sides of the road allowing for traffic to move underneath. Before going back to the Diaspora he also planned to sample the Mombasa train network say from the city center to Bamburi. 

From what he saw, the train transport culture had really taken root and adopted a uniquely Kenyan face. For example in the majority of train routes, the last train wagon was reserved for the youth. The interior were filled with graffiti generated by art clubs. Loud music was acceptable and train routes from say Eastland’s estates had really loud music and special conductors to keep the highly charged youths in check. Some of this youth wagons or digital wagons as they are commonly known since they came with free wifi would be used by music bands and artists to show case their talents onboard the trains. Several theater groups, music bands and solo artists had made their name on this trains and even had some of the wagons known by their names. 

In Nairobi everyone had a metro card for the trains within Nairobi. For those without a card for whatever reason one could book and purchase a train ticket online and pay via mobile money or simply at the train station as you wait for your train. The train conductor only verifies tickets and metro cards but never receives any money. If found on the train without a ticket then you are liable for arrest. The metro card could of course be bought at major retail outlets like super market petrol stations or mobile money agents. The metro cards could be topped up though mobile money, ATMs, super market tillers, station ticketing agents etc. The metro cards are universal and could be used in all transport services including buses, matatus and boda boda. 

The Diaspora guy browsed through his phone and was mesmerized with the railway service website. One could find a complete time table on all the routes; you could buy a ticket online and get a verification sms on your phone. Tips on the shortest route to your destination to save money and time if you needed to board multiple trains to reach your destination. Reserve wagons for special occasions. One could also sign up for notifications on delays on their favorite routes.  

My friend smiled at the progress made, he nodded and strained to hear the loud music coming from the last wagon reserved for teenagers and those wishing to remember the old times of music matatus.