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Standard gauge railway ground breaking set for this week
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Siringi
#81 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 8:46:46 AM
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Joined: 6/8/2013
Posts: 2,517
Parliamentary Committee Declares SGR safi kama Pamba, Key Otoyo witness Keter failed to present evidence smile
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mv_ufanisi
#82 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 9:18:08 AM
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Joined: 1/15/2010
Posts: 625
Ndii's article had me wondering if this is really the best use of Kshs 300 billion to build a railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.
There's some interesting alternatives -
1. We could have built this railway from Lamu to Nanyuki which opens up a part of the country that has been neglected for so long.
2. We could revamp the RVR railway and build a dual carriage way road to Mombasa - that should help reduce the no of accidents & make it faster to drive to Mombasa.
It starts to seem that this railway wasn't well thought out at least from a strategic viewpoint. Or am I wrong?
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a4architect.com
#83 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 9:39:32 AM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
the railway project makes economic sense. The only issue i have is with the higher than average cost and lack of proper explanation by Govt as to why the costs are this high.

http://www.a4architect.c...hipoia-vs-nigeria-costs/
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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wanyee
#84 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 9:40:31 AM
Rank: Member

Joined: 7/17/2011
Posts: 627
Location: Mbui-Nzau, Kikumbulyu
mv_ufanisi wrote:
Ndii's article had me wondering if this is really the best use of Kshs 300 billion to build a railway from Mombasa to Nairobi.
There's some interesting alternatives -
1. We could have built this railway from Lamu to Nanyuki which opens up a part of the country that has been neglected for so long.
2. We could revamp the RVR railway and build a dual carriage way road to Mombasa - that should help reduce the no of accidents & make it faster to drive to Mombasa.
It starts to seem that this railway wasn't well thought out at least from a strategic viewpoint. Or am I wrong?

Yes all the above if the financing was from our own coffers!!!
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mv_ufanisi
#85 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 10:07:27 AM
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Joined: 1/15/2010
Posts: 625
The financing will eventually come from our own coffers.

I think there needs to be a justification for why we should have two railways in the same place competing against each other when a huge part of the country lacks any kind of infrastructure.

It's just seems like a misplacement of priorities.

The president seems to believe that this will be the defining project of his presidency and will push it forward regardless. RVR needed a kick in the behind but this project might be a waste of precious little resources.
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shalishali
#86 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 12:27:51 PM
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Joined: 12/15/2009
Posts: 142
Location: Nairobi
mv_ufanisi wrote:
The financing will eventually come from our own coffers.

I think there needs to be a justification for why we should have two railways in the same place competing against each other when a huge part of the country lacks any kind of infrastructure.

It's just seems like a misplacement of priorities.

The president seems to believe that this will be the defining project of his presidency and will push it forward regardless. RVR needed a kick in the behind but this project might be a waste of precious little resources.

Wondering whther anybody has the google map of the standard gauge alignment/route.
UKITAFUTA UKABILA UTAKUFA BILA!
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a4architect.com
#87 Posted : Thursday, February 20, 2014 6:33:28 PM
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Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
check a dual track rail here below.

http://www.a4architect.c...chnical-details-needed/

This is when the current 1m wide rail is added another track to make it 1.4m wide hence reduce the cost of construction significantly.

Such options should have been studied during the feasibility study phase.

I shuddered when Hon. Kimunya recently said that there was no need to carry out a Kenyan owned feasibility so he let the chinese do their own feasibility. This could be the genesis of the problems we are seeing since the chinese must have done a feasibility study that best meets their needs .
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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tomtom
#88 Posted : Friday, February 21, 2014 1:22:01 AM
Rank: New-farer

Joined: 11/19/2013
Posts: 33
It seems a dual gauge has worked for others before what would be the implications of going the upgrade route given the following considerations.

a)that the current rail service is already concessioned.

b)would current service be halted, what are the legal implications and penalties to the concession holder

c)the cabinet secretary claimed that the current railway never envisioned high speed trains (120kmh) hence has gradient and bends that would be risky at such speeds.

d)if it is true that high speed rail has to be fenced, how will this pan out in national parks and towns the rail currently passes.

e)if you have several low speed trains on the dual gauge rail how will it impact the high speed trains using the same track.

f)how cost effective is it to panel beat an 19th century rail into a 21st century outfit without compromising efficiency.
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a4architect.com
#89 Posted : Friday, February 21, 2014 12:09:01 PM
Rank: Veteran

Joined: 1/4/2010
Posts: 1,668
Location: nairobi
@tomtom, good questions. Now such questions and answers are what a proper feasibility study shows. Now that we have not publicly seen any feasibility study, we are left to imagine and debate, such as the recent Dvid Ndii's article but the best situation is for Govt to pay Kenyan consultants for a factual feasibility study that has incorporated all the above issues.

For Govt to have asked the Chinese contractors to carry out a feasibility, this is ridiculous since they can only do a feasibility that is skewed to their advantage.
As Iron Sharpens Iron, So one Man Sharpens Another.
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sorovi
#90 Posted : Friday, February 21, 2014 2:49:31 PM
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Joined: 8/3/2007
Posts: 146
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