When Philip Mainga joined Kenya Railways back in the 90s as a management trainee, the then 28-year-old economist fresh from university had one dream; to build Kenya’s railway system for the future.
He had horned his skills both locally and abroad including at Harvard University.
The Star sought to know his journey as a person and career as he continues to steer Kenya railways to greater heights both on SGR operations, the Metre Gauge Railway and Nairobi’s commuter train system.
In a nutshell, who is Philip Mainga?
Mainga is a family man. I am a father to four children. On the other side, I am a trained economist, project manager and a trained technical guy in rail systems both in and outside the country. I joined railways sometime back in 1997, and surprisingly enough, I have never worked anywhere else.
I have grown from the ground but I went through a very tough time in my trainings because of the background of where I came from. I joined as an assistant planning officer, and management trainee in planning and grown through the ranks to where I am today.
Can we call you a railman or a managing director?
I would go with a railman first because I have a deep understanding of what railway is. Apart from being an economist, I have had an extensive training in railway including at the Railway Training Institute (RTI) which gave me a very solid background of Kenya Railways Corporation.
I have done everything that a railman should do. I have operated trains so I know what a locomotive driver is, I ran ships, done technical work including repairs and many other areas. Remember I have never worked anywhere else apart from Kenya Railways so I know everything that a railwayman needs to know.
I have also been a procurement officer at the corporation, general manager in charge of business and other responsibilities as I grew through the different positions to where I am today.
Apart from RTI, where else have you gained your knowledge of railway systems?
I have trained in China, the UK, America and others which has made me what I am today.
What time do you get to the office?
I am an early person. I start my work at 6 am, sometimes at 5 am and I close around 7 pm-8 pm depending on the day. I do a lot, from office work to interacting with my colleagues both in the office and in the field making sure that we are together in doing what we do best.
Our locomotive drivers, our train operators, our crew, our maintenance team, our technical people who repair the locomotives, our signalling and communication engineers who work tirelessly to make sure that day and night trains are moving all over this country and none of them can stop and our security people. They are sincerely the people who deliver the service.
What are some of the challenges you have faced in your railway years?
There has been a number but one of the main ones was in 2002-2003 thereabout when I was still a junior officer. For the very first time in my life, we went for one year without a salary. There was no money and railway started collapsing. Imagine waking up every day to work and you know there is no salary, you have a family, it was tough.
Later in 2006, there was a concession which saw Rift Valley Railways (RVR) take over operations. I was coming to work but no salary nor a clear definition of terms so basically I was jobless.
Luckily somewhere in 2008, I was reinstated back and we continued working which later on we took back operations from RVR.
You never wanted to get a job elsewhere?
I did. I went for so many interviews including at the Central Bank of Kenya. I got called to some but again I said no let me be patient. I was so passionate about the railway.
What happened after taking back from RVR?
I started giving my plans and telling the government, number one, we need to reinstate Kenya Railways back to what it was and we needed government support. That is how we started to build what we are today.
Of course, SGR which I was among the team that saw its implementation. I was one of the people who went to China for some of the negotiations. With government support, things changed for the better.
What would you say are some of the biggest achievements?
One of the achievements that I feel to date, one, is taking back Kenya Railways from that private operator who mismanaged our system. Then the second one is rehabilitation and reforming the Metre Gauge Railway from 2019 to date, where all our lines, including Mombasa Malaba line that had been interfered with and had collapsed.
Today, we have revived all our lines except for Taveta. We are currently going to to Kitale, Nyahururu, Butere, Nanyuki and Kisumu. We have also revived and upgraded the Nairobi commuter rail system from one train per day to nine, moving over 3,000 people every day on different routes.
Today, about 30 to 40 per cent of the people who are coming to work in and out of Nairobi travel by train. We have also made very drastic changes in our operations in SGR, improved that service from what it was in 2017-2018.
Today, we are running three sets of train, Mombasa-Nairobi three times. We are going all the way to Maimahiu. Freight capacity has also increased and we keep growing in all our services which are supporting growth of the economy.
Where are you with taking over SGR operations?
I would say 98 per cent. It is not an easy thing but we are almost there and expect to fully take over this year.
Tell us about the much spoken about Nairobi Railway City.
This is an authentically Kenyan, multimodal transit-oriented urban development that seeks to establish a new beating heart for the capital and boost the economic and social development of Kenya through the realisation of the project masterplan.
The project sits on 425 acres of our prime underutilised land within the Central Business District (CBD) of Nairobi. We want to create a transport hub with seamless integration with public transport.
Railway City has an expanded central station, new Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) lines and stations as well as revamped matatu termini that will allow Nairobians clear transit pathways. It is going to be a massive modern project.
Currently, we are at the procurement stage. We have finished all the designs, plans, all the drawings are ready so the buildings for the Nairobi Central Station, and commercial requirements all are ready. The New Bridge connecting CBD to the industrial area is almost complete, in the next two months it will be ready.
Modernisation of our Makadara workshop along the railway line is complete. What we are waiting for is the budget allocation for Railway City, the government and UK are working together on financing for the project. We believe in the next few months, we will have made huge steps.
Why can you not just electrify the country’s railway system?
Well, we look at it in terms of the grid. The government continues to invest in power projects from geothermal, wind, solar to other sources which will grow the country’s electricity capacity. However, when it comes to running trains it is 24 hours so you don’t need a blackout even for a minute.
We must be clear that we are self-sufficient on power before going electric. What the government is planning is we get an independent grid for a railway system first so in future yes, we could go electric.
Many did not know you actually own vessels in Lake Victoria, tell us about it?
Kenya Railways operates two vessels–MV Uhuru I and II. The two ships are busy moving petroleum products, grains, steel and other cargoes to Uganda and imports from the neighbouring country which is Kenya’s biggest trading partner in the region. We are also now moving cement to Mwanza so we are busy with anticipated growth as we continue investing in our infrastructure.
What are your targets for SGR?
Our target for this financial year is about 8.2 million tonnes, up from 7.3 million in the previous financial year, having grown from 400,000 tonnes at the start of operations.
Revenue target is over Sh24 billion up from Sh20 billion last year, our revenues have been growing year-on-year. Passengers target is 2.7 million up from 2.56 million while the commuter target is million from four million.
Where are you with extending SGR to Kisumu-Malaba?
First, we are completing the relocation action plan study. We hired consultants to do the study. We have already identified the corridor from Naivasha to Malaba and in that corridor, we have project-affected persons. We are documenting the report which will be ready by end of March for handing over to the National Lands Commission which will then move ahead with the relocation and compensation programme.
We have also commissioned the Environmental Impact Assessment, our consultants are on the ground, by the end of April, the study will be complete. We have also commissioned another study on logistic hubs along the railway line to spur industrilisation and international trade.
These logistics hubs will be very critical in empowering farmers, create more employment and industrilise our country. Meanwhile, the government is working on financing models for the project and it will soon give a direction, we have done out part as directed by the government.
Kenya Railways is taking back its illegally acquired land, tell us about it.
Gladly, we have reclaimed almost 1,000 acres of land and key assets in Nairobi, Mombasa, Nakuru, Eldoret, and other regions. We have partnered with the Ethics and Anti-Corruption Commission and the DCI and we are going after most of our properties that are in the wrong hands.
Our recovery programme continues and the greatest thing is we have titled most of our land, we have hired consultants who are titling all our land. We want to make sure that the days of freehold land without titles are gone.
What gives you satisfaction?
Before I answer that allow me to say this, railway systems across the world are not meant to make money, a railway system is supposed to spur economic growth and Kenya Railways has been contributing about 1.5 per cent to 2.5 per cent of the GDP growth.
We cannot overcharge our customers, our tariffs have remained low especially for passenger service. Passenger systems do not make money, cargo may not make high profits but meant to spur economies globally.
Our railway system has helped stabilise the economy, growth of businesses, industrialisation, export and imports and movement of people. On satisfaction, it is when I wake up every morning, our trains are operating safely and our staff is happy. Sometimes we don’t even sleep, we are always on call.
When I know everything within the organisation is running smoothly and our contribution to the economy is on point, including the Bottom-Up Economic Transformation Agenda, then I am satisfied.
