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Reuters

Entertainment

Duncan Miriri

Some Kenyans say Chinese-built railway leaves them in the dust

A child holds an umbrella as he stands on SGR railway tracks near the town of Kiu, south of Nairobi, Kenya, December 16, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

The soporific buzz of bees fills the abandoned train station at Kiu, a two-hour drive from Kenya's capital Nairobi. Rusting rail sleepers lay on the grass outside; a slender snake slithers away after footsteps disturb his sunbaked snooze.

A new Chinese-built rail track lies about 500 meters away from the old colonial-era railway station, which closed down in 2012. But the new high-speed trains thunder through without stopping; Kiu is just a dusty blur glimpsed through the window.

An SGR passenger train travels past the the town of Sultan Hamud, Kenya, February 13, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Residents of this eastern Kenya town serving 6,000 people, feel bereft without their station and the old railway line, which they depended on to get to work, or the nearest hospitals. Travelling by road is a slow and costly alternative.

Opened in 2017, the new $3.3 billion railway is part of China's "One Belt, One Road" initiative, a multi-trillion dollar series of infrastructure projects upgrading land and maritime trade routes between China and Europe, Asia and Africa.

The new railway sliced travel times in half for passengers and cargo travelling between the capital Nairobi and the port city of Mombasa. The non-express service takes just over four hours to make six stops but only runs once a day, a steep reduction from the 46 stops of the old service that ran twice a day.

An attendant walks along the carriage of an SGR passenger train as it travels from Nairobi to Mombasa, Kenya, October 24, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner S

"This new railway is just for the rich. We do not benefit," said Thomas Mutevu, a welder in Kiu.

He used to commute to work in Nairobi by train every day, he said. But now the train no longer stops and it is too far and expensive by road, he has stopped commuting. Other Kiu residents who work in Nairobi now only come home at weekends, he added.

State-run Kenya Railways said the new line has boosted local travel. Passengers surged to 1.765 million in the year to June 2019, up from 1.239 million in the year to June 2018, as people who used to travel by road or air opt for the new train.

An SGR passenger train passes by a field, while traveling from Nairobi to Mombasa, Kenya, October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Baz Ratner SEARCH "MOMBASAÐNAIROBI TRAIN" FOR THIS STORY. SEARCH "WIDER IMAGE" FOR ALL STORIES.

Cargo was up to five million tonnes last year, although some businesses complain they are being forced to use the new line.

The new rail sliced Emily Katembua's farm in half. Although she was compensated, she struggles to get to the market without the train.

"The government should put a station here so we can benefit since we are traders who need to travel and sell our produce," she said, surrounded by goats and sheep.

Thomas Mutevu looks at his granddaughter Diane, as he rests at his home in the town of Kiu, south of Nairobi, Kenya, January 19, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Vegetable seller Margaret Njeri struggles to see a doctor without the old train. The nearest hospital is 24 kilometres away, mostly on an unpaved road.

Residents must now pay about 500 shillings ($4.93) to get there by motor-bike and minibus, five times what it used to cost on the old rail, they said. Taxis are only for emergencies – they cost 10,000 shillings, almost a month's wages for a labourer.

"We have to wait on the road many hours for transport because the new railway does not have a stop here," said Njeri.

Vendors look at cabbage stored on the back of a tricycle, as it is brought to the market to be sold in the town of Kiu, south of Nairobi, Kenya, January 12, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Some want the old line, dubbed "the Lunatic Express" when British colonialists built it more than a century ago as it cost the lives of thousands of construction workers from British India and was considered a huge waste of British taxpayers money, revived as an attraction.

"It should actually be a steam train so you can actually see the smoke," said Mohammed Hersi, the chairman of the Kenya Tourism Federation, a private sector lobby. "That would be something special."

For photo essay click on: https://reut.rs/3aACTFZ