A train was leaving the Nairobi terminus of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, on May 31, 2018.(Xinhua/Wang Teng)
Freight transport from Kenya's coastal city Mombasa to Nairobi on the Chinese-built standard gauge railway hit 3.26 million tonnes in the first nine months of 2019, up 12 percent year on year. It also generated a revenue of about 75 million U.S. dollars.
NAIROBI, Dec. 6 (Xinhua) -- The tonnes of cargo ferried on Kenya's standard gauge railway freight service rose about 12 percent in the first nine months of the year, new economic data shows has shown.
The train ferried about 3.26 million tonnes of cargo from the port of Mombasa to the inland container depot in Nairobi, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) data revealed.
This was an increase from 2.92 million tonnes of cargo that was ferried in the corresponding period in 2018.
The bulk of the cargo was transported in August, with the service clocking 430,450 tonnes, while the least was recorded in February at 313,936 tonnes, KNBS data indicated.
A worker was unloading a container at the ultra-modern inland container depot in Nairobi, capital of Kenya, Jan. 1, 2018. (Xinhua/Allan Mutiso)
The cargo ferried in the nine months generated a revenue of 7.54 billion shillings (about 75 million U.S. dollars), according to KNBS.
Passenger numbers during the period were almost flat, however, with the train ferrying 1.18 million people between Nairobi and Mombasa in the months to September.
Both the cargo and passenger services of the train dubbed Madaraka Express remain popular in Kenya, with the latter set to boom this December as holidaymakers travel to the coast. ■
