Tickets of of the second Madaraka express train services which will resume tomorrow, October 1, 2020 were on Wednesday sold out within minutes after the firm announced the resumption.
The announcement follows the move by the Government to relax Covid-19 measures on Monday.
“As from 1st October 2020 we will have an additional afternoon express train to and from Nairobi and Mombasa,” Kenya Railways said in a tweet on Wednesday.
The second train service which was suspended in April following the outbreak of the coronavirus outbreak is expected to leave Mombasa for Nairobi at 2.15pm and arrive in Nairobi at 7.20pm
The schedule has been made possible following the adjustment of the curfew period.
On Monday, speaking at the National Covid-19 Conference at the Kenyatta International Convention Centre in Nairobi, President Uhuru Kenyatta said the curfew would start from 11pm to 4am, starting Tuesday, September 29.
The firm resumed operations in June after the revision of curfew hours by President Uhuru. However, it only begun with the departure of one train from Nairobi at 8am that will arrive in Mombasa at a quarter to 1pm.
The train from Mombasa on the other hand would leave at 1.55pm arriving in Nairobi at 6.40pm, so as to enable passengers travelling to other destinations beat the 9pm curfew.
In April 2020, the Kenya Railways announced that all SGR passenger services would remain closed until further notice after President Uhuru ordered the cessation of movement in and out of Nairobi Metropolitan Area, Mombasa, Kilifi and Kwale counties.
But following the reduction of Covid-19 cases, the government has been relaxing the measures in a bid to boost the economy.
The 472-kilometer standard gauge railway line between Mombasa and Nairobi was constructed at a cost of Sh327 billion. It was co-financed by commercial and semi-concessional loans from China and the Government of Kenya.
