Some Kenyans say Chinese-built railway leaves them in the dust
The soporific buzz of bees fills the abandoned train station at Kiu, a two-hour drive from Kenya's capital Nairobi. Rusting rail sleepers lay on the grass outside; a slender snake slithers away after footsteps disturb his sunbaked snooze.
A new Chinese-built rail track lies about 500 metres away from the old colonial-era railway station, which closed down in 2012. But the new high-speed trains thunder through without stopping; Kiu is just a dusty blur glimpsed through the window.
Story
Some want the old line, dubbed "the Lunatic Express" when British colonialists built it more than a century ago as it cost the lives of thousands of construction workers from British India and was considered a huge waste of British taxpayers money, revived as an attraction.
"It should actually be a steam train so you can actually see the smoke," said Mohammed Hersi, the chairman of the Kenya Tourism Federation, a private sector lobby. "That would be something special."
Greenery grows on an old petrol pump near the decommissioned Voi train station.
Documents hang on the wall of a station master's office in the town of Konza.
Old train tickets are left in a draw of a ticketing office in the town of Konza.
An old document hangs on the wall of a station masters office in the town of Konza.
Mutevu 's wife Francesca looks at her husband as she holds onto their granddaughter Diane, at their home in the town of Kiu.
Mutevu stands outside his home in the town of Kiu.
An employee carries a piece of metal at Mutevu's workshop in the town of Kiu.
Women work in a field next to a railway bridge for SGR trains, near the town of Kiu.
Cabbage lies on a tricycle to be sold at a market in the town of Kiu.
People attend a service at St Mary's catholic church in the town of Kiu.
The Mombasa SGR Terminus.
Commuters ride down an escalator at a train station in Mombasa.
A commuter pushes a stroller along the platform of Mombasa SGR Terminus in Mombasa.
Commuters ride on an SGR passenger train.
Two train attendants talk amongst themselves during their break.
Commuters play a game of cards.
An SGR passenger train passes by a field, while traveling from Nairobi to Mombasa.
An SGR passenger train passes by elephants as it travels from Mombasa to Nairobi near Tsavo East National Park.
A conductor waits outside an SGR passenger train as its stops at Kutoka Station in Kutoka.
People stand in front of the entrance to Nairobi Terminus.
