Kenya Railways to offer free shuttle services to SGR terminus

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Agnes Wamwandu one of the Madaraka Express crew shares a selfie moment with one of the passengers during a trip to Mombasa. PHOTO: BRIAN OSWETA.

Mombasa, KENYA: Kenya Railways is offering free transfer services from the CBD to the stations in Mombasa and Nairobi, for commuters who will be traveling aboard the new Standard Gauge Railway Train “Madaraka Express.”

The promotional service which kicked off this weekend, is set to end on Tuesday (June 6th) and will see passengers being picked up from the CBD by National Youth Service and Kenya Posta buses to be ferried to the stations.

According to Kenya Railways KR, passengers in Mombasa will be picked at 7 am from the old Kenya Railway station on Mijikenda Street and transported to the Mombasa Terminus in Miritini.

In Nairobi, the buses will pick passengers from the Nairobi Central railway station in town to the Nairobi Terminus in Syokimau.

The buses are also expected to shuttle passengers scheduled to arrive at 1:30pm to Nairobi’s and Mombasa’s CBD respectively.

According KR management, after the promotion ends, they  will start using the old railway line to ferry people to the city centre in Nairobi.

The move comes as a lot of Kenyans have  expressed  difficulty in accessing the Mombasa and Nairobi stations, which are both outside the CBD.

The Mombasa station is located in Miritini area and most commuters told Baraka FM that it was very difficult to locate the area.

“It was very difficult getting to this place this morning I used a Taxi and if my driver did not know this area it would have been very hard for me to access this area.” Said Michael Owira.

At the moment passengers are expected to book the tickets at the Nairobi and Mombasa Stations on cash or credit card with economy class going for Sh700 and business class at Sh3,000 for adults.

This has resulted to long cues at the ticketing area, with passengers rushing to board the train which leaves at exactly 9am.

According to Kenya Railways, plans are underway to introduce an online platform where travelers can purchase tickets.

President Uhuru Kenyatta launched Madaraka Express on  Wednesday last week and lowered the fare price of the four and a half hours trip for economy class to Sh700 from the Sh900 announced on Monday by Kenya Railways.

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