The Nairobi Commuter Rail Service, which President Uhuru Kenyatta launched on Monday, targets three million travellers a month compared to the current 1.2 million.
"Today marks a new dawn for transportation in our Metropolitan Area. The enhancements we are seeing will have tangible real life benefits to city residents," President Kenyatta said.
The NCRS will, on average, be ferrying 30,000–40,000 Nairobians on a daily basis.
The commute to and from the central business district will take less than one hour. Other forms of travelling take longer time.
President Kenyatta said Nairobi loses Sh50 million daily to traffic congestion. This will change after the launch of the commuter rail.
The rehabilitation and modernisation of the Nairobi commuter rail began last year in October at a cost of Sh1.2 billion.
It is premised on a master plan that involves the rehabilitation of existing infrastructure and the construction of new railway stations.
It is part of the wider Nairobi Metropolitan Services Improvement Project under the State Department for Housing and Urban Development.
The Nairobi Central Station will be the nerve centre of operations linking 10 stations in satellite towns, including the new stations at Doonholm and Pipeline.
Currently, there are commuter train services on the Nairobi-Imara Daima -Syokimau route, the Nairobi-Githurai-Mwiki-Kahawa–Ruiru route, the Nairobi-Embakasi route, and the Nairobi-Kibera–Kikuyu route.
President Kenyatta said those stations will be served by five of the 11 refurbished Diesel Multiple Units bought from Spain at a cost of Sh1.15 billion.
The Kenya Railways has also acquired buses to be stationed at the Central station to ferry commuters to and from Upper Hill, Westlands, Industrial Area, Parklands and Pangani.
“The commuter buses will also provide commuters access to convenient locations for long distance travel from Makadara Express to and from Mombasa and Suswa,” the President said.
Next year, the commuter rail system will be expanded to JKIA to allow air travellers an alternative mode of transport to and from the airport and avoid the Mombasa Road traffic jam.
The commuter rail system will also be integrated with the Bus Rapid Transport system that will connect the Nairobi Central station with existing matatu and non-commuter bus termini.
Transport, Infrastructure, Housing and Urban Development Cabinet Secretary James Macharia said Nairobi will save billions of shillings by integrating the rail system to road transport.
"Congestion has caused this city billions and billions of shillings and so as we develop the city, as we look at the future of the Nairobi city, we have to make sure that we integrate the road transport and the rail system," he said.
The new trains and infrastructure at the station will be friendly to the physically challenged.
Kenya Railways managing director Philip Mainga said the train platforms have been designed such that commuters, including the physically challenged, will not struggle to board trains.
"The platforms have been raised. This platform will be the edge of the train and when the door is open, you just need to walk in without any problem. The physically challenged, the elderly and other people will not need to rush,"Mainga said.
"You can imagine the kind of number which we are running currently is about 12 to 13, 14 trains a day in those routes.
"After the renovation and rehabilitation of all the stations, we will be having about 40,000 people exiting, and getting through this station every one to two hours,” he added.
