First batch of 60 freight wagons arrive at Mombasa Port

By Caroline Njenga

The first batch of sixty freight wagons to be used on the Standard Gauge Railway have arrived at the Port of Mombasa on Monday.

The wagons each with a capacity of 70 tons are part of the 1,620 wagons which will be used for movement of cargo between Mombasa and Nairobi.

Kenya Railways says the SGR project is in its final phase of construction and will soon be ready for operations.

Kenya is set to seal its place as the regional transport hub with the launch of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway project.

Already, twelve locomotives have arrived in the country. Of these, two are passenger coaches, four for cargo and eight of the locomotives are for freight.

This part of the 1,620 various types of freight wagons expected to be sued on the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway.

Experts say the locomotives will transport at least 4,000 thousand tons of cargo at a go.

This will boost transportation of cargo from the Port of Mombasa to Nairobi as well decongest part of the northern corridor.

The  high sided open type of wagons have a capacity to carry 70 tones which can be loaded at the top and offloaded on the sides simplifying workload and reducing labor.

Another set of 150 flat wagons for containers is expected to dock next week.