Nairobi–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway Mombasa to Nairobi. The project cost US$3.6 billion. Financing was finalized in May 2014, with the Exim Bank of China extending a loan for 90 percent of the project cost and the remaining 10 percent coming from the Kenyan government. Laying of the track was completed in December 2016. Passenger service was officially inaugurated on 31 May 2017. Freight service began commercial operation on 1 January 2018. China Communications Construction Company will operate the railway for the first five years. Nairobi–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway The Nairobi–Malaba Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) is a standard-gauge railway that connects Kenya's capital city of
History of Nairobi plague and the subsequent burning down of the original town. By 1905, Nairobi was a humming commercial center and replaced Mombasa as capital of the British East Africa. The city expanded, supported by the growth in administrative functions and in tourism, initially in the form of British big game hunting. As the British colonialists explored the region, they began using Nairobi as their first stop. This prompted the colonial government to build several grand hotels in the city for British tourists and big game hunters. Nairobi continued to grow under British rule, and many Britons settled within the city's suburbs.