When travelling using the Madaraka Express on the Standard Gauge Railway (SGR), you might have seen some casings along the railway lines that are rectangular in shape and might mimic a coffin.

🇰🇪 Breaking It Down

Kenya Railways has clarified that the structures are casings used to hold the Madaraka Express trains, following public curiosity after they were spotted at the Railway Exhibition during the Mombasa ASK Show.

“These are casings to hold the Madaraka Express Trains,” Kenya Railways explained.

The clarification came as Kenya Railways highlighted facts about Kenya’s railway network during the show, including the country’s two different railway track gauges - the SGR and Meter Gauge Railway (MGR).

📌 What You Need to Know

While their rectangular shapes can visually resemble a coffin or casing to the eye, the structures are important during railway line construction, serving critical safety and structural purposes.

Many of these structures are box culverts embedded in or through railway embankments, which serve as enclosed tunnels that channel natural streams, seasonal rivers, and storm runoff safely from one side of the tracks to the other.

Managing water flow prevents flooding that would wash away the soil foundation supporting the heavy train tracks along the rail line.

The casings can also be found on elevated bridge sections. Civil engineers prefer the hollow design because it offers resistance to torsion, which allows railway bridges to bear the massive, shifting weight of double-stack cargo and high-speed passenger trains without buckling or sagging.

Along sections that cross conservation areas, such as Nairobi National Park or the Tsavo ecosystem, the casings serve as safe underground corridors.

They allow migratory wildlife and local livestock to cross beneath the high-speed rail safely, avoiding deadly collisions.

📰 Source: Kenyans.co.ke