Kenya Railways has announced an additional Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) passenger train on the busy Nairobi–Mombasa route to ease the heavy holiday rush.
In a notice issued on Tuesday, December 2, the corporation said the temporary service will run daily from Monday, December 8, to Monday, January 5, a period traditionally marked by increased travel to the coast.
According to the revised schedule, the extra Nairobi-bound train will leave the capital at 9:40am, stop in Voi at 1:35pm, and proceed to Mombasa, with arrival expected at 3:55pm.
For the return journey, the train will depart Mombasa at 4:30pm, stop briefly in Voi at 6:15pm, and pull into Nairobi at 10:55pm.
“We will be running an additional Madaraka Express Passenger Service train…to accommodate the increase in passenger demand during this period,” the corporation said in the announcement.
Kenya Railways urged travellers to book early through its online ticketing platform or via the *639# USSD code, noting that festive season seats typically sell out quickly.
The move comes just two weeks after Kenya Railways Managing Director Philip Mainga revealed that all premium class seats were fully booked until February 2026.
Speaking during an earlier briefing, Mainga said demand for travel to the coast had surged to levels that would require the corporation to acquire more coaches, especially for premium class travellers.
“The demand…is high, so we are now going to order more coaches and equipment to ensure that everyone is accommodated,” he said, adding that the railway was already “fully booked for Christmas.”
He also confirmed plans for additional special trains, similar to the one deployed to ferry ODM members to Mombasa during the party’s 20th anniversary celebrations in November.
This is not the first time Kenya Railways has expanded its operations during the holidays. Last year, the corporation introduced a special SGR service on the same Nairobi–Mombasa corridor to manage the December travel rush.
With festive season journeys now in full swing, the extra train is expected to help ease congestion on one of the country’s busiest travel routes.
