A recent dawn train ride on the ultra-modern Nairobi Commuter Service from Nairobi Central Station to Embakasi Village was like a breath of fresh air.
The coaches and seats that faced each other, were sparkling clean. There was no noise pollution, and a fire extinguisher and First Aid kits box were at all the entrances for emergency use. At a pocket-friendly fee of Kshs100 per person for the 30-minute ride, it was worth every cent of it, as the driver of the refurbished coaches hooted five minutes to departure at 9.30am, to alert passengers to board.
Residents of Embakasi Village, which overlooks the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), on the eastern side of the capital, also have an alternative, a second train service, which uses the old Kenya Railways Corporations (KRC) wagons. It costs barely half the charges for the ultra-modern coaches.
It was also a big contrast to the other peri-urban KRC services to Limuru in Kiambu; Lukenya in Machakos; Ruiru in Kiambu counties, respectively, and Syokimau, also in Machakos, where passengers use the old colonial-type coaches and seat on two long benches, facing each other, with an aisle in the middle, for the conductor to collect the fare.
Scenic beauty
I had earlier used the Limuru-Nairobi service, which I boarded at the Kibera station for the 30 minutes ride through the biggest slum in the country with 250,000 people, on one hand, and the leafy neighbourhoods of Lang’ata and Upper Hill, on the other.
That experience was a different one. Most passengers were blue-collar workers (heading to the Industrial Area and to informal businesses) and donned casual smart clothes. Very few men were in suits and ties, the preferred attire for the white-collar workers.
The train made several stops for passengers, especially students, to drop and others to board, as it snaked through the city’s suburbs to the final destination in the Central Business District (CBD).
Though crowded with everyone wearing a mask, the ride was a trip down memory lane for some of us, as fellow passengers tried to maintain the safe distance and kept their conversations short and in low tones. Both my paternal and maternal grandfathers worked for KRC in the 1940s and 50s. We thus grew up using the railways.
Biggest slum
Passengers who wanted to listen to their favourite radio stations, or watch videos, did so with their headphones on to avoid disturbing the rest, in line with the KRC rules. Other banned behaviour is taking photographs, which I was a victim of later at the Nairobi Central Station, when one of the security officers caught me in the act and politely told me to refrain, lest I be arrested by Railways Police, who have a station with cells next door for the law breakers. Most offenders are people crossing the railway line instead of taking the long walk to the foot bridge to access the Industrial Area.
The Kibera-CBD ride costs Kshs35 per person and exposed the big gap between the rich and the poor, as reported in a recent survey. The sprawling slums stood in contrast to the beautiful maisonnettes, apartments and high rise buildings along the 10km stretch.
Nairobi is turning into a concrete jungle, going by the lack of green spaces along the route. From Kibera station, the only ones were the Jamhuri Park, Ngong Forest and the two big spaces reserved for the elite at Royal and Railways golf clubs.
Indeed, it was a sight to behold watching the early birds, men and women dressed in casual smart sportswear, baseball caps and expensive golf shoes, enjoying their dawn walk and playing the formerly aristocrats’ game on the acres of artificial hills and dams in the well-tendered grounds with mature trees, shrubs and manicured lawns, to boot.
Divided city
On the other side, the rail route was a beehive of activities as hundreds of men, women and children walked to work, school or colleges, as others went about their business, setting up their kiosks and cafes along the route.
The earth and the tarmacked roads were jammed with motorists and passengers in private and public vehicles like matatus (mini vans), buses, and boda-bodas (motorbike) taxis in a gridlock lasting for hours on end.
But for us on the train, it was such a relief 30 minutes later when the driver brought the train to a stop at the Central Railway Station, and the hundreds of passengers disembarked and proceeded to their various destinations. Some connected to Upper Hill, Westlands and Yaya Centre, among others, using the new buses run by KRC. But I decided to stay on at the well-furnished and stocked restaurant for the next hour, as I waited for the connecting commuter train to the Embakasi Village.
While waiting, I walked around and admired the digital display board, which gives hourly updates of incoming and outgoing trains. It also has a separate screen for JKIA passengers, staff and members of the public wishing to know the arrival and departure schedules for planes at the biggest and busiest aviation hub in East Africa.
While buying time there, I met three Form Three Lenana School students dressed in their uniform. They were also waiting to connect with the commuter train to Syokimau to board the noon Madaraka Express train to Mombasa, at the coast, to start their two-month holiday.
When I asked them to share their experience so far, they all praised SGR, saying it was pocket-friendly at Kshs1,000 per person, relaxing and it gave them an opportunity to bond and enjoy the beautiful sites along the route, through the famous Amboseli National Park.
Controversial SGR
The government invested Kshs3.6 billion on the Nairobi-Mombasa SGR built by the Chinese, who completed it in May 2017, for the launch by President Uhuru. Dubbed the Madaraka Express, it ferries about 20,000 passengers daily in its three services at 8am, noon and 8pm to and from Nairobi and Mombasa concurrently.
It has since revolutionized public transport on that route, enlisted 2,285 staff at the 33 stations on the route; and ferries cargo from Mombasa to Naivasha station. A recent study shows that SGR has boosted Kenya’s economy by 1.5 per cent, and contributed to the creation of some 46,000 jobs.
The Kibera-CBD line is on the century-old Nairobi-Kisumu railway line and meanders through the Kibera slums. The often fully-packed train from Limuru drops and picks passengers at Kikuyu, Dagoretti, Kibera and at CBD. It is a daily service, ferrying hundreds of passengers to and from the west of the capital at dawn and in the evening.
My maiden trip was quite an experience as it was at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic and the health protocols were being observed religiously, like the use of M-Pesa digital platform to pay fares. The only exception to the rule was that, unlike other public service means, KRC was allowed to carry more passengers, including the standing ones.
On the flip side, the line from CBD to Embakasi, through Makadara, Donholm and Pipeline stations, was a breath of fresh, through the colonial-built bungalows and flats in Muthurwa, Kaloleni, Maringo and Jericho estates.
There were also the modern high rise apartments in Donholm, Pipeline, Outer Ring Road and Embakasi area, just before we ended our relaxed ride with a clear view of JKIA on the horizon and the headquarters of the national carrier, the Kenya Airways.
I took the second train back to CBD at 9.30am, which I was told was not as busy as the one, two hours earlier, which is popular with passengers heading to work, school or to JKIA to catch a flight.
The Kshs100 fare was a good deal, in contrast to those who had paid the same amount, but were stuck in jams in crowded matatus, with blaring music and videos, in addition to enduring the conductors and drivers, with their legendary culture of impunity.
Green city in the sun
At the Embakasi station, the train driver switched off the engine for a 15-minute break as most passengers disembarked and others boarded for the trip to the CBD. There were several KRC-owned buses, marked Nairobi Commuter Railway Service, for passengers proceeding from the station to JKIA and the neighbourhood.
I took a walk to freshen up and view the clean station and washrooms before I paid up at the counter for the return trip. My seatmate was a married man who was with his toddler son, who he told me he was taking for the maiden trip and would later return by matatu. Most of the seats were filled as more passengers boarded, as others alighted at their various destinations.
Our trip came to an end at the Nairobi Central Station, where some passengers opted for refreshments at the restaurant, while most walked to the matatu stop, or to their places of work.
The joy ride was worth the early morning connection. With plans by KRC to expand and improve the commuter rail services in the city and suburbs, I see a bright future for public transport in the ‘Green City in the Sun’, away from the madness of the matatus and boda-bodas.
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