NAIROBI, Aug. 21 (Xinhua) -- The number of passengers who used Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) train service in the first quarter of this year rose about 15.2 percent as compared to a similar period in 2022, the Kenya Railways Corporation (KRC) said Monday.
The train service during the three months ferried 597,506 passengers, an increase from 518,780 passengers in a similar quarter last year, the institution noted in a new report.
The surge in passenger volumes saw the train service, dubbed Madaraka Express, record a significant rise in revenue to about 661 million shillings (about 4.58 million U.S. dollars) in Q1, a rise from about 3.9 million dollars in the first three months of last year, according to the KRC.
The rise in demand for the train service shows more Kenyan travelers are seeking reliability, affordability, and speed while shuttling between Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, and Mombasa, a coastal tourist destination. ■