History made as train engines roar to life in Mombasa

Guests and members of the public mill around the six Standard Guage Railway (SGR) line locomotive engines after Transport Cabinet Secretary received them from the China government at the port of Mombasa, January 11, 2017. The other locomotive engines will arrive in the country mid-February. [PHOTO BY GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

At exactly five minutes to noon in Port Reitz, Mombasa, yesterday, six of the 56 locomotives that will bestride the Standard Gauge Railway roared to life.

The co-joined six-two shunting diesel electric locomotives - four of them freight cars - were pulled off the new SGR marshalling yard in Port Reitz by Transport and Infrastructure Cabinet Secretary James Macharia and other top State officials.