Kenya's SGR train service ferried 1.7 mln passengers in 2018: report

NAIROBI, March 20 (Xinhua) -- Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway Train service ferried 1.7 million passengers in 2018, the national statistics bureau said on Wednesday.

The figure is more than double the passengers the Train service, dubbed Madaraka Express, carried from mid-2017, when it started, till the end of 2017, the Kenya National Bureau of Statistics (KNBS) said in a report.

"In 2017, the Train transported 699,055 passengers between June and December, with the number rising to 1.67 million in 2018," the report said.

Among the passengers, 186,718 were transported during the December peak season, when the Train was fully booked. May recorded the least number of passengers at 116,171, according to the KNBS.

The Train service, which takes about five hours one way between Nairobi and Mombasa,

Travel charges stand at 1,000 shillings (about 10 U.S. dollars) for the economy class and 30 dollars for first class. Children pay half the fare.

The Standard Gauge Railway freight service ferried 5.03 million tonnes of goods in 2018, bringing in a total revenue of 863,177 dollars.