Officially started on December 12, 2014, the 472-km Mombasa-Nairobi Standard-Gauge Railway Project by China Road and Bridge Corp. is the biggest infrastructure project in Kenya since its independence in 1963. It is also considered the flagship of Kenya Vision 2030, the development plan that seeks to realize a medium-industrialized Kenya by then.

The existing meter-gauge railway built by the British connecting port city Mombasa and capital Nairobi has been used for over a century. Its annual freight volume began decreasing due to lack of maintenance and upgrading and today, accounts for less than 10 percent of Mombasa's total throughput.

(Reporting from Nairobi, Kenya)