Yep. Thats what they should do. Ikifika 1.30pm it makes return trip at 3pm to reach destination at 7.30pm. Or introduce the inter-county trains that will still get one to mbs or nbi.

@Swenani.
With all due respect, stick to matters 'fish & airport'.
You got better luck there.

I am a businessman & a direct consumer of trucking from Mombasa to Nairobi.
If you have your 40ft container loaded in the evening in Mombasa, less than 16 hours (between 4am & 10am), you will have it at your doorstep,in Nairobi.
SGR would cost give or take 100k+20k=110k. Add that to the fact that you have 'waiting time'(not all consignments are bound for Nairobi's ICD & some vessels will be discharging very few containers) for it to be loaded on the wagons in Mombasa, then clearing time once it gets to Nairobi's ICD.

Hiyo container itachukua 5-10 days on road kwani inatoka Timbuktu?

About Bollore,DHL,Fedex etc, give them a call & find out how much it will cost you to transport the same 40ft container from Mombasa. There's a reason why they serve 'special' clients only.

That's exactly what they have. What I'm wondering is, why don't they operate at night? Some travelers are not traveling for sightseeing.

Doesn't it mean that they now have two express trains, 9am and 3pm
And a county train at 8am? That's a choice of 3 trains each way.

Your argument is no longer pedestrian but something else.

1. My understanding is that clearing at the ICD will be similar to the clearing procedure at the port of MSA or the CFS hence the clearing time at either the port or ICD is a non factor-correct me if i'm wrong
2. That calculation of 16 hrs is too optimistic- optimistic scenerios are never considered in any business decision. For SGR, the most likely travel time will be 8 hrs or we can even take your optimistic time to be the SGR pessimistic time.Driving to Mombasa in a private car takes between 7-8hrs in a normal situation, how on earth will a truck which struggles to do 50KM take 16 hrs in a normal day
3. SGR will lead to a reduction in storage costs since you can easily repackage and consolidate cargo at Nairobi ICD during the free storage window period for redistribution to various parts of the country but for trucks, it means either repacking in Mombasa(which might lead to extra transport costs) or repacking in Nairobi before distribution leading to additional warehousing costs.
4. Have you factored in the delays in truck offloading at Nairobi due to the which might lead to additional transport or warehousing costs? With SGR ICD, you do not have to worry about the delay in offloading since you can store your goods at the ICD for free as your book your cargo for offloading.How many free days to truckers provide for offloading once your cargo arrives at NBO?
5. On the delays of offloading due to different cargo destination locations, do you know why 1,620 wagons were ordered for? It does't mean the train has to wait cargo destined to the SGR station to be offloaded before proceeding to the ICD, It can easily detach the wagons at the SGR station and proceed to the ICD with the wagons destined to ICD.
6. Will Bollore, Fedex, DHL etc hire truckers(since most truckers depend on this firms) for their transport needs between MSA and NBI or will they use SGR?

Trucking only makes business sense to truckers and small scale traders who import japanase vehicle even the mitumba traders will opt for SGR since 1 tonne of cargo to Nairobi will costs 32K.

@Swenani.

As I said, with all due respect! Stick to what you know best.

Yesterday (Wednesday) as I was typing, my container was being loaded on a truck in Mombasa.
Today (Thursday) by 10am, I was done offloading less than 16 hrs later, here in Nairobi.
Please note, this was the third one since SGR was launched. More like the norm, not isolated case.

I am talking from experience, not wishful thinking.
It has been like that for close to 9 years, except a few incidents.

Your number 3,4 & 5 ,I'm lost. Like you can stay with a container after discharge from the vessel, indefinitely. There's demurrage.
ICD is like a single CFS, you have several in Mombasa easing movement.

Last one, at 32k per ton, how much will a 29 ton container cost?

Coz we have dimwits running the railways.

They had said they are planning to introduce an evening trip.

@hardwood. I have no issue with SGR passenger. It is cheaper,faster but somewhat inconvenient. The inconveniences have been brought to the fore.

Do you think SGR passenger would have been this busy if the rates were higher than buses?

My issue is with SGR Cargo . It's more expensive to the individual consumer,more us who cannot negotiate special rates, TC.

I'd suspected the same. BTW what became of an operator to run the railway? Heard bids were invited.