The SGR train before it left the Nairobi station on Wednesday. Photo/ the-star.co.ke
A test run for the first ever Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) was undertaken successfully between Nairobi and Mombasa on Wednesday.
The inaugural test, which involved a passenger train, took six hours from Nairobi to the Coastal city of Mombasa. The train departed from Nairobi at 9.30 am and arrived in Mombasa at around 400 pm. Addressing journalists at the Port of Mombasa, SGR Project Coordinator Johnson Matu said the test was impressive, adding that it was aimed at examining the performance of the train on the track."The test runs were meant to determine the train's performance ability on the new SGR track," he said, as quoted by the Standard. The train, which included a specialized compartment with the ability to evaluate the condition of the SGR track before relaying the information to a computerized system for necessary action, stopped at Mtito Andei for two hours and five minutes before proceeding with the 472km-journey. The locomotive, which included two passenger locomotive engines and four coaches, was moving at a speed of 120 Km/hr up to Mtito Andei before it slowed down since the other part of the SGR track’s signaling and communication is still being worked on."We were cruising at a speed of 120km per hour from Nairobi up to Mtito Andei, where all the rail communication modern systems are in place," he said. Matu further said that they had to use the manual signaling and communication system from Mtito Andei all the way to Mombasa. “TAEC and KR are also conducting tests on the trains to determine its performance before its starts operating,” said Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina, who spoke to journalists separately. "This is a formal and critical process where the parties go through the critical process of testing whether the final product delivered, that is, both the infrastructure and equipment, meet the standards expected by the client," Mr Maina said.