Kenya Electricity Transmission Company Limited (Ketraco) and China Electric Power Equipment and Technology Company signed a USD 240 million contract for the electrification of Kenya’s Standard Gauge Railway, which currently is operated by diesel-powered locomotives.
Under the contract, Ketraco will construct 14 from substations on Mombasa – Nairobi line. Under the contract, the electrification is scheduled to be completed within 28 months.
The design of the SGR railway, initially run by diesel-powered locomotives, allows the addition of a single electric line that will be connected to Ketraco’s 482 km-long 400kV Mombasa-Nairobi Transmission Line (MNTL), which has a transfer capacity of 1,500MW.
“The main purpose of this contract is to ensure that when the SGR switches to clean energy power source, the supply will be reliable and sufficient for not only the train but other facilities along the Mombasa-Nairobi economic belt including train stations, planned industries, factories and businesses near the railway,” Ketraco says.
The inauguration of Mombasa – Nairobi SGR was held in May 2017, when Kenya’s President Uhuru Kenyatta traveled from Mombasa Terminus in Miritini to the Nairobi Terminus. 
EUR 2.8 billion were invested for construction works on Mombasa-Nairobi line, of which EXIM Bank of China has covered 90% of costs, while the Kenyan government 10%. The line cuts travel time between the two main cities by 8 hours, from 12 hours to 4 hours.
The railway electrification is part of presidency’s commitment for the development of a clean transport sector. In 2015, at the Conference of Parties (COP21) Global Climate Summit the President Uhuru Kenyatta highlighted Kenya’s “introduction and management of low carbon and efficient transport systems.”
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