SGR vandalism rises on after Covid-19 lockdown

Vandals have taken advantage of the Covid-19 lockdown to dismantle part of the Nairobi-Mombasa standard gauge railway (SGR) line guardrail in Kajiado county for sale as scrap.

Kenya Railways (KR) managing director Philip Mainga said this had exposed operations to serious risk with lives of staff and passengers threatened.

“KR has fallen victim to vandalism activities where thieves even removed some metallic pipes installed at the SGR Bridge that crosses Magadi Road on the way to Kiserian sub-county just past Maxwell University at DK24 to DK26,” he said.

He added that the colonial era metre gauge railway had also been hit with a section of the non-functional Nairobi-Murang’a line having some clips removed.

Activity along the Nairobi-Mombasa SGR line has been low following April’s order by President Uhuru Kenyatta that halted passenger service to curb new coronavirus infections.

The order locked down the lucrative SGR route between two vibrant cities that last year earned KR Sh3.2 billion or 136 percent higher than in its first year of business when it brought home Sh5.7 billion.