The Kenya Railway Corporation is planning to rehabilitate and extend its aging 139-kilometre railway network within Nairobi, a move likely to ease public transport in the city.
Early this week, the corporation tendered seeking consultants to conduct a feasibility study, preliminary design and upgrade of the city’s rail network, setting the stage for a revamped network that will push daily commuters from the current 20,000 to 100,000.
Following this initial expansion, subsequent phases will focus on upgrading and additional routes including the Nairobi-Ngong and Nairobi-Kiambu Town lines among others.
The project seeks to expand the rail network from 35 to 53 stations with key transit hubs and supporting infrastructure to encourage public transport usage.
The feasibility study and preparation phase for KUMIP is expected to take 24 months from April 2025.
According to a public notice by the firm’s managing director Philip Mainga, the scope of the consultancy work will also include preliminary engineering to assess viability for the upgrading as well as development of Transit Oriented Development facilities and access roads to commuter stations.
Other expectations also include the preparation of the engineering requirement for design and building bidding documents for contracting for the entire commuter NCR network, access facilities to commuter stations, and related infrastructure facilities for selected stations along the Thika line.
The project will also focus on modernising ticketing systems. Subsequent phases will focus on upgrading and running additional routes including the Nairobi-Ngong and Nairobi-Kiambu Town lines among others.
“Kenya Railways now invites eligible consulting firms to indicate their interest in providing the services. Interested consultants should provide information demonstrating that they have required qualifications and relevant experiences to perform the services,’’ the tender request reads.
Last month, Kenya Railway’s Project Team Leader, John Maina said the first phase would target the highly trafficked Nairobi-Ruiru route, which will be extended to Thika Railway Station to meet growing commuter demand.
