Passengers using Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway trains will from this month not be allowed to pay cash to travel.
The Kenya Railways Service over the weekend announced that they will be operating cashless payments only.
"As from August 1, the acceptable payment mode for your Madaraka Express train ticket will be debit/credit card and Mpesa, "reads the notice.
However, this does not affect most of the commuters who use the SGR mode of transport as most bookings are done online.
Since its launch in 2017, SGR has been using a payment system that involves mobile money and cash.
The Mombasa-Nairobi SGR connects Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and Mombasa, the largest port in East Africa, with a total length of about 480 kilometres.
Due to the Covid-19 pandemic that saw restriction in travelling, travellers who use the SGR last year scaled down to 720,000 compared to 1.59 million in 2019.
On July 9, 2021, the SGR witnessed 1,500 days of safe operation since it was launched.
Last year in November, the government announced plans to extend the SGR link from Syokimau to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport.
The expansion will significantly ease traffic delays that characterize the road network and also promotes railway usage further to the public.
Transport Cabinet Secretary for Transport James Macharia noted that the Government was in talks with their counterparts from France.
The project will involve the construction of a new line from the Syokimau terminus over Mombasa road right into the airport.
He noted the upgrading of the country’s railway network was an investment Kenyans should be proud of as it had taken 122 years for it to happen
“In Kenya, we now have a railway system which we can be proud of. Before the SGR then no major investment had been done in the country in the railway network for a whole 122 years. The railway line from Mombasa to Nairobi was constructed in 1885,” Macharia said.
Edited by D Tarus
