Kenya Railways Suspends Madaraka Express Booking for January 2018

The Kenya Railways Corporation has issued a suspension notice for all Madaraka Express bookings that had been scheduled for January 2018.

In a statement, the Corporation said that it will be rescheduling the passenger train service from January.

“As MNSGR will adjust N1/2 and E1/2 passenger trains’ schedules from 1 January 2018, please be informed that there will be a short temporary sale suspension of tickets that date from 1 January 2018,” read the statement.

The Kenya Railways further said that they will be giving a notice to its passengers in due course on when to recover the sales.

“Meanwhile, kindly accept sincere apologies for any inconveniences caused,” continued the statement.

KRC’s announcement of the planned Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) train schedule change in the new year comes two weeks after the operator did another reschedule.

The December 1st change in passenger service timetable followed the introduction of the inter-county train in early November.

This being the festive season and many people are travelling to the Kenyan Coast for holidays and leisure, the Madaraka Express train had fully been booked up to 1st January 2018. This has forced those who had not booked early to use other means of transport including buses or by air.

Due to the increased number of people travelling to the Coast, KRC decided to extend the period in which one could book for the train from seven to 14 days in advance.

“People can now book 14 days in advance as we have extended the booking period. There are more people travelling between Mombasa and Nairobi either for leisure, or business,” said KRC managing director Atanas Maina early this month.

Mr Maina added that from November 1, the number of passengers travelling by the trains had increased to between 4,500 and 4,800 up from 2,700 in October.