The Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) moved record freight volumes in 2025 and lifted revenue to KSh 15.88 billion in the first nine months, yet the line remains weighed down by a multibillion-shilling Chinese loan that now stands at KSh 646 billion.
- •The operator is working to improve cash flows as the government prepares to take full control of operations by December 2025.
- •The railway carried 1,894,561 passengers between January and September 2025, a 5.95% rise from the 1,788,134 passengers moved in the same period of 2024.
- •Freight revenue for the period rose to KSh 12.56 billion from KSh 10.33 billion, a 21.6% rise and contributed 79% of total SGR revenue.
Passenger revenue for the nine months rose to KSh 3.32 billion from KSh 2.92 billion with the average revenue per passenger increasing to about KSh 1,753.
August was the busiest month at 291,584 passengers and February being the slowest at 168,897.
Freight tonnage moved reached 5,413,168 tonnes compared with 4,866,956 tonnes last year, a 11.2% year-on-year rise. June delivered the highest monthly tonnage on record at 732,510 tonnes with September being the lowest month of 2025 at 520,203 tonnes.
Total revenue for the first nine months increased to KSh 15.88 billion from KSh 13.25 billion, a 19.85% gain year-on-year.
The SGR was financed mainly through a loan of about USD 3.6 billion from the Export–Import Bank of China. The outstanding balance, including capitalized interest, is about KSh 646 billion and one tranche of USD 1.6 billion carries semiannual repayments from July 2021 to January 2034.
Kenya Railways has fallen behind on part of the on-lent repayments and the default triggered extra charges estimated at KSh 34.1 billion. The government has since shifted the repayment currency from the US dollar to the Chinese yuan.
China Road and Bridge Corporation has operated the railway since launch with the government planning to complete the takeover of operations by December 2025 which had earlier been scheduled for June 2025.
