The express rail commuter service from the central business district of Nairobi to the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) has been launched.
Transport CS James Macharia on Monday launched the new link which will be operating from the Nairobi Railway Station to JKIA.
It will cost those heading to JKIA Ksh500 from the city centre to JKIA for the 20-minute trip. When using road transport, the journey from the CBD to JKIA takes at least one hour minimum.
Diesel Multiple Units (DMU) will be deployed in this route. They will then access the airport through Airport South Road which joins the end of Outering Road and has since been opened only for BRT buses.
Macharia said that once this takes off, there are plans to expand it to the SGR terminus in Syokimau.
“There is another project which we are connecting the SGR terminus in Syokimau across Mombasa Road right into this JKIA terminal to make sure our tourists and business people when they fly into the JKIA they can ride 5km to Syokimau and take SGR to anywhere else they wish to go,” CS Macharia said.
This comes a few weeks after the Nairobi Commuter train was launched and is now plying five main routes in and out of the city during peak hours which are morning and evening.
Through the Nairobi Central Station, the refurbished DMUs are plying Ruiru, Syokimau, Embakasi Village Kikuyu and Makadara.
However, the reception was not so kind after Kenya Railways announced flat rate fare of Ksh100 to all the routes.
