I agree this project should go on quickly, any delays end up being more expensive not less.

"How Much Does a Railway Cost?

A difficult question! This is a bit like asking how much does a car cost. It depends on whether you want a Mercedes or a Honda, a sports car or a pick-up, a car to do the shopping in or to move furniture with. It also depends on where you buy it. Cars are cheap in the US because there is a huge market and a good economy. Cars are expensive in Singapore because many of them are imported and there is a high taxation penalty to control traffic numbers. Cars are expensive to build in Europe but cheap to build in India because of the differences in labour costs and lower engineering requirements.

It is the same with railways. A single track freight line with a few locomotives and simple signalling, running across a flat, geologically sound, sparsely populated landscape in a developing country might be built for as little as US$ 2 million per kilometre including electrical and mechanical equipment.

A double track underground metro line in a densely populated city with difficult geological conditions, requiring anti-earthquake construction techniques, electric traction, immunity from typhoons and high humidity, high technology specifications and high passenger capacity trains could cost US$ 200 million a kilometre.

One of the most expensive railways ever built was the Jubilee Line extension in London. This cost US$ 330 million a kilometre because of difficult civil engineering, its large and finely built stations and its additional safety equipment and its financing costs." (source: railway technical web pages)

NB: it is flat and sparsely populated until salama, from then on to malaba presents a different picture in terms of terrain and population

It matters a lot considering that this is a loan and not a grant

According to the government, the first phase of the new line will cost $2.9 million per kilometre.

Ethiopia, which is currently building a railway line between Sabeta and Mieso in the Northern part of the country, is building it’s line at $3.8 million a kilometre.

In Uganda, Gauff Consultants of Germany, who have been retained as consultants for the Malaba-Kampala section of the Standard Gauge Railway, have estimated the cost at $9.3 million per kilometre.

The wide variations between the three projects mainly reflects differences in altitude, gradient, geographical conditions, the cost of labour, steel and cement.
<source daily Nation>

I need some education here.

What does this project mean to LAPSSET?

I am looking at a map and having a hard time justifying two similar railway projects in the present form - never mind the justification - and happening concurrently. Plus the sheer magnitude of the investment has already bust our borrowing ceilings.

Fear not any more...
Both will continue.... different things different routes. May be we will have a connection via Nanyuki, Meru, Isiolo. Those who will live in Kenya 20 years from today will surely be living in a differnt world. Imagine travelling from Nanyuki to Lamu via fast train