[Photo/ Standard Gauge Railway Project Kenya]
President Uhuru Kenyatta is scheduled to launch the eagerly awaited Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) project on Wednesday next week. He will then be among the first travellers to use the train from Nairobi to Mombasa. Here are 10 things you should know about the mega project, which is one of the key achievements of the Jubilee administration:1. The journey from Nairobi to Mombasa will take just over 4 hours, which is much faster than the 10 hours that travellers take on a bus over the same route.2. The SGR train will move at a speed of 120km/h, and will take about 2 hours to reach Mtito Andei from Nairobi. 3. Passengers using the SGR trains will enjoy WiFi on board.4. The Standard Gauge Railway train has the capacity to carry about 1,200 people at any given point5. The SGR project will cut movement of goods by road between Mombasa and Nairobi by about 40%6. The cost of phase one of the SGR project, between Nairobi and Mombasa, was Sh327 billion.7. President Uhuru Kenyatta recently secured a Sh370 billion loan from a Chinese bank for the construction of the Naivasha-Kisumu Standard Gauge Railway line.8. The SGR will reawaken local tourism at the Coast, as many middle class workers will travel to Mombasa for holiday and return to their workplaces in Nairobi in record time. 9. There are 7 train stations between Mombasa and Nairobi — Mariakani, Miaseny, Voi, Mtito Andei, Kibwezi, Emali and Athi River. 10. The project was completed ahead of time — by about 18 months.