It was introduced by the British Imperialist huko majuu on the line between Manchester and St. Pancras Station of London.
It reduced head-on collisions by upto 90%, in those days...18th century.

The same system is still being used but "digitized" now, especially for Single tracks worldwide.
The train driver is called the Train Engineer, (not welder!)

The line clear racket carries a huge age-hardened steel key which the Station Master keys in to some telegraph box machine.
He turns the key and press some morse code to enable the next Station to release his key for the next station after the next...
Its only after the key has successfully locked into the current station that the next station can release its key (Line clear).
But the next station after the next must also send some morse code to the next station to enable the key to be released by the next station.

The next station master after the only send the Morse code if he is sure these is no traffic between the two stations, thus the name "Line Clear".

But wait, should the current station master fail to log in the key in the telegraph machine, then the train will be grounded in the next station since there would be NO line clear to proceed to the next station after the next!

Also the station master can delay the train in the station by keeping the "line Clear" on his desk, and only take it to the train Engineer when he is satisfied.
This is normally done when the there is an oncoming traffic ahead which has closed the line hence the line is "Not clear".

He can only do this to intentionally delay the train for his wife who is still in the house to come and catch the train.


And by the way the telegraph could fail to release the key due to low power (they were powered by Dry Cells made in West Germany and USA, yes we used American batteries in the past and not Chinese), in this case the station master will invoke some power and write a special letter to the train engineer explaining the problem and confirming that the line ahead is clear!
For passenger trains, the train Captain must append his signature to accept this or decline.

The train captain is the overall,well fed, big stomach, good english and he doesn't seat in the Driver's cabin...he sleeps somewhere in the first class couches, complete with "Mechanical Thuraya" mobile phone.

I will explain the Imperial Railway "Mechanical Thuraya mobile phone" later....

Hivyo ndivyo ilikuwanga for the Lunatic Express!

A train doesn't have to have a long-nose design to for it to be modern. Even Germans use old school trains. A train design isnt changed every 3 years like happens with japanese cars. What matters is what is under the hood and the horsepower. Also Kenya is not buying those high speed bullet trains that travel at 300kmph and thus need an aerodynamic nose.

German train.




USA

I used AMTRAK from LA to San diego and it was fast enough

If you want higher speeds no one has stopped you from using KQ.

I saw the SGR site in Rangau area of Ongata Rongai , who has an idea whether there will be an SGR site in Ongata Rongai or Ngong ?

Shida is that people never see anything good. For ages people were complaining that we have never build even a single inch of rail since mzungu left. And that we needed an efficient rail transport to move goods inland from mombasa. Then Ohuru build SGR in record time. And now people are still complaining - sijui its expensive, sijui its not 2 way, sijui they dont like shape of engine, sijui it should have been electric, sijui it will disturb hyenas and other beasts at Tsavo and other parks, sijui the train should have done 200km/h and not 120km/h, sijui it spoilt the landscape view as you travel to coast by road etc etc. What do people want???????

TIK....

Where is the breakdown of SGR costs? Has anyone seen it?

If you went to school like I did, you'd know that forest fires play an important ecological role in forest ecosystems. They are a part of the forest ecosystem dynamics. You could start by reading the link below to educate yourself on some of these matters.

http://greentumble.com/t...rtance-of-forest-fires/