The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) passenger services marked a spectacular Fifth anniversary by celebrating 7.8 million travelers to and from Nairobi and Mombasa according to a report released by the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) last month.

The maiden Madaraka Express trip from Mombasa to Nairobi on May 31, 2017 had on board President Uhuru Kenya, among other government officials, who freely interacted with Kenyans and made several stops at county stations.

 This was followed by the first passenger train open for the public on June 1, 2017 and it has now become a routine, except for a while during lockdown, when cases of Covid- 19 soared in 2021.

“2021 holds the record for the highest numbers of passengers at 2 million with 2018 coming in second with 1.67 million,” said the KNBS report.

Coming from a backdrop of several contractual and financial controversies, the SGR project had become the attacking point by government critics and was not expected to live up to its hype. Naysayers argued the project was overpriced and would not deliver the dream of transforming the country’s infrastructure on the fronts of prompt cargo transport.