CRRC sends ten freight cars to Kenya for use on new Mobassa-Nairobi railway

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Credit: CRRC.
Credit: CRRC.
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The Chinese backing of Kenya’s new Mobassa-Nairobi railway has continued with rolling stock manufacturer CRRC sending ten freight cars for the line.

The container wagons departed from Harbin, the capital city of Heilongjiang province, on June 2, and will arrive at the port city of Dalian where they will be shipped to Kenya.

The X2K container flat wagons are double deck with a load capacity of 78 tonnes. Each wagon is able to carry four 20-feet-long containers.

The new 472km line in Kenya opened ahead of schedule at the end of May, replacing the Uganda Railway line that was built at the end of beginning of the 20th century.

Beginning in Mombasa and ending in Nairobi, the Sh320 billion (around €2.8 billion) Madaraka Express was largely backed by Chinese investment, built by China Communication Construction Company and will run using CRRC rolling stock.

At the time of the launch president Uhuru Kenyatta said: “Today will be marked as a great day in the history of our republic. This inaugural journey on our new Madaraka Express marks a transformative moment for Kenya, and for Africa.”


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