Kenya Railways is shopping for an investor to construct Nairobi commuter rail system. The state placed advertisements jointly with InfraCo Africa, a British donor funded company seeking an interested consortium of engineering, procurement & construction contractors and experienced operators to bid for the planned 62 kilometre one-metre gauge railway line.

The winning consortium is expected to draw up detailed design, engineering and construction works in phase one, while the operator is expected to prove ability to run the railway system as soon as it is commissioned.  The scope of of work includes construction of new stations, bridges, rehabilitation of existing ones, and maintenance and fueling depots. “The operator will be responsible for safe, reliable and efficient operation of the subsystem initially with 10 to 15 train-sets operating on 4 lines, one of which will be to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport from the Nairobi Central Station,” The advertisement said.

The project is a culmination of an Sh8 billion shilling joint venture between Kenya and infrastructure development trust InfraCo signed in April 2009 for upgrade and expansion of Nairobi’s dilapidated commuter railway system. InfraCo was to undertake a feasibility study, at a cost of about $5-million (Sh420 million) in preparation for a the new commuter system in 2012 to take over the  system after the expiry in 2011 of the  five-year passenger railway service management concession agreement with private consortium Rift Valley Railways.

 

 

Source: http://www.the-star.co.ke

London based InfraCo funds early stage, high risk costs by taking an equity stake in the project. Kenya Railways Managing Director Nduva Muli had at the time indicated that the project would expand the network to cover 170 km  up from 61 kilometres. Muli said the feasibility study, design, procurement of contractors and bringing investors on board would take about 24 months from mid 2009, after which infrastructure and rolling stock upgrades would begin and last take 18 months, in time for the handover from Rift Valley Railways.