Kenya · Infrastructure
Kenya’s two rail networks carried nearly equal passenger totals in 2025
Kenya’s standard and metre gauge systems each recorded about 2.73 million passenger journeys in 2025. Freight tonnage and reported revenue tell a different story about how the networks were used.
Sources checked
The standard gauge system moved about 6.8 times the freight tonnage of the metre gauge system in 2025.
The passenger totals met in 2025
Metre gauge counted 4.50 million passenger journeys in 2021, more than double the standard gauge figure of 1.99 million. By 2025, the two totals were just 1,000 apart at the precision published by KNBS. Source 1
The trains covered very different distances
In 2025, the standard gauge network recorded 1.227 billion passenger-kilometres. The metre gauge network recorded 68 million. That amounts to about 449 and 25 kilometres per recorded passenger journey, respectively, based on rounded totals. Similar journey counts can therefore represent very different levels of transport activity. Source 1
Freight was concentrated on standard gauge
Standard gauge accounted for about 87% of the combined freight tonnage recorded for the two networks in 2025. Its freight revenue reached KSh 16.64 billion. Metre gauge freight tonnage rose from 2024, even as its reported freight revenue fell to KSh 1.87 billion. KNBS linked that decline primarily to the effect of exchange rates on dollar-denominated tariffs. Source 1
What the numbers say about project use
Passenger and freight statistics show how much the infrastructure was used. The revenue columns are nominal operating revenue. Measuring operating profit, project payback or financing costs would require matching records on expenses, capital spending and debt. Source 1