The Kenyan government has approved a $1.7 billion project to renovate and extend a colonial-era meter-gauge railway line, connecting the South Lokichar oil fields in Turkana to the Indian Ocean port of Mombasa by 2030.
Parliamentary approval of Gulf Energy Ltd’s development plan endorses a 640-kilometer meter-gauge railway (MGR) stretching from Nakuru through the oil-rich northwest, bypassing the modern Standard Gauge Railway (SGR). The decision promises $2.3 billion in cost savings compared to building new SGR infrastructure.
“The meter-gauge line follows natural terrain without extensive tunnel excavation, making construction faster and more economical,” the parliamentary report states.
Equipped with specialized rail tankers, the upgraded line will function as a scalable “mobile pipeline” for crude oil, while also transporting cement, minerals and bulk goods to diversify revenue streams. The project addresses a decade of logistical bottlenecks that have stalled Kenya’s ambitions to become a net oil exporter.
Analysts expect the rail connection to unlock economic activity across the historically isolated Rift Valley and northern Kenya, integrating remote oil basins into national transport networks and spurring secondary industries.
Industry observers view the MGR revival as a pragmatic pivot in Kenya’s infrastructure strategy — leveraging existing alignments for rapid deployment while positioning the country to capitalize on its estimated 585 million barrels of recoverable oil reserves in Turkana.
Completion by 2030 aligns with anticipated first oil exports, potentially transforming Kenya’s energy trade balance and regional logistics role.
