SGR slashes Its fare to as low as Sh50 but there is a catch

Kenyans are set enjoy even cheaper prices while boarding the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) before the month of June elapses.

The Kenya Railways Services have announced the much awaited inter-county train services will be launched next Saturday allowing passengers to alight on the stations between Nairobi and Mombasa.

Currently the two Madaraka Express trains offer a four-and-a-half hour non-stop connection between Nairobi and Mombasa on a daily basis.

SGR will now make stopovers at Mariakani, Miasenyi, Voi, Mtito Andei, Kibwezi, Emali and Athi River.

“We will have a train leaving Nairobi at 8:00 am in the morning and another train leaving Mombasa at the same time” said Kenya Railways Managing Director Atanas Maina.

Passengers travelling on the economy class coaches will pay Sh50 from Mombasa to Mariakani, Sh230 from Voi to Kibwezi, Sh160 from Athi River to Emali, Sh510 from Nairobi to Voi and Sh400 from Emali to Miasenyi.

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First class passengers who now have to pay Sh3000 from Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa will pay Sh140 from Mombasa to Mariakani, Sh920 from Voi to Kibwezi, Sh660 from Athi River to Emali, Sh2,130 from Nairobi to Voi and Sh1,670 from Emali to Miasenyi.

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The stop-overs come with a cost of course in terms of time.

"The Nairobi train heading to Mombasa will stop along all the stations and it will take five and a half hours along the way.”

This is still way better compared with Buses which can take up to 10 hours on the road from Nairobi to Mombasa.

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Furthermore passengers boarding SGR will also from Wednesday pay their tickets via Mpesa.

A total of 34,808 passengers have so far boarded the train Since its Inception on 31st May.

The stop-overs will however be done only once a day.

"When those trains are coming back, the Mombasa train that will have arrived in Nairobi will go back to Mombasa express at 3:30pm, while the Nairobi train that will have arrived in Mombasa at 1:30pm will return to Nairobi express at 3:30pm,” Maina added.