MADARAKA EXPRESS FARE INCREASE OF UP TO 35 PERCENT LOOMS
(Posted 03rd February 2018)
Information is beginning to emerge from the Kenya Railways head office that the parastatal is planning to raise tariffs for second class passengers on the trains between Nairobi and Mombasa by as much as 70 percent.
The fares until now have been a mere 700 Kenya Shillings per person one way for the entire route – less for traveling to some of the other stations – and this was seen as a major factor if not THE factor why passengers flocked in their tens of thousands to the train, suddenly a safe and affordable option to the often hazardous road transport with buses and the high air fares between the capital and the coast.
Now word from the grapevine has it that Kenya Railways might look at new tariffs being as high as 1.200 Kenya Shillings for second class passengers, though apparently considering leaving the first class fares of presently 3.000 Kenya Shillings intact, perhaps realising that airfares from Nairobi’s Wilson Airport to Mombasa are only marginally higher than their comparable pricing level, albeit with shorter access compared to the distant railway station and faster traveling time.
It remains to be seen what if any intervention government plans to undertake in the fixing of the new tariffs, which were at the start of operations of the SGR railway at the end of May last year given at 900 Kenya Shillings one way in second class before President Kenyatta in a hugely popular move directed the fares be lowered to an affordable 700 Kenya Shillings for the Nairobi to Mombasa and vice versa trip.
Since then have over 100.000 travelers used the trains, most of them paying the 700 Kenya Shillings fare.
