Service expected to take huge chunk of business from cargo owners

Members of the public watch as the first Standard Guage Railway (SGR) line passenger train snails out of the Mombasa Terminus Station in Mombasa after it was launched by President Uhuru Kenyatta, May 31, 2017. The passenger train will be operating once in a day. [PHOTO BY [GIDEON MAUNDU/STANDARD].

Beginning January next year, cargo owners will start using the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) to move goods between Mombasa and Nairobi.

The start of the SGR freight service is expected to take a huge chunk of business from cargo owners. The new service could also be the proverbial final straw that breaks the camel’s back that is the century old metre gauge railway, as SGR will probably take all customers still using the old line.