The Chinese company runs both passenger and cargo services on the SGR.

The poor performance of the project is attributed to reduced limited storage capacity at the Embakasi Inland Container Depot (ICD), minimum use of the Nairobi Freight Terminal that handles cargo not stored in containers and the rail charges.

 The SGR has struggled to attract adequate cargo volumes, with investors balking at the tariffs for transporting goods from the Port of Mombasa to the Inland Container Depot (ICD) in Nairobi.

The freight services formed the main economic justification for the Ksh 323.20 billion President Uhuru Kenyatta’s administration pumped into the project through loans largely procured from Exim Bank of China from May 2014.

The losses have dimmed hopes that the SGR would generate enough revenues to finance its operations estimated at Sh1.5 billion a month or Sh18 billion a year and pay the Chinese loans.

Kenya borrowed Sh324 billion for the project from the Exim Bank of China in May 2014 and started paying the loan last year after expiry of the five-year grace period.