Floods ground Syokimau rail service

By Frankline Sunday

Commuters using Kenya Railways service from the Syokimau rail station into the city centre will have to look for alternative means after the transport provider announced it was temporarily stopping the service.

In a statement to newsrooms, KR blamed the stoppage on the flooding of a section of the rail line cased by encroachment on the railway reserve at the Mukuru kwa Njenga informal settlement.

“The informal structures built along the railway corridor have blocked the drainage system, preventing storm water from draining into Nairobi River,” read the statement.

The company further said that it is seeking a solution to the perennial problem through a Relocation Action Plan (RAP) project that will resettle families living along the railway corridor.

The stoppage of services comes barely four months after the Sh400 million commuter train station was commissioned by former President Kibaki.

The project was part of the Sh24 billion Nairobi Commuter Rail Network project, an infrastructure project under Vision 2030 aimed at easing traffic in the city.