Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway turns one Thursday May 31,2018 which has boosted local economy in the African country.

Kenya's Madaraka Express is  celebrating its first anniversary on  Thursday, the 31st of May. The railway line has lowered the cost and time taken to travel between Mombasa and Nairobi.

More than 1 million passengers have used the Standard Gauge Railway since its inception. And 600,000 tons of cargo have been transported inland from the port of Mombasa to the capital.

"The spin-off effects in other sectors will acutely multiply. If you take for example the hospitality industry, we have hotels coming up in various stations. We will even have schools, we have transport companies, people ferrying people with taxis, and so in times of the overall spin-off, employment, I'd say it's more than 100,000."says James Macharia, cabinet secretary, Kenya's Transport and Infrastructure.

"The Mombasa railway line is important for the whole, not just for Kenya economy, I think for the regional economy in East Africa. Particularly because what you need to realize is that the railway opens up a market and a hub of activity in a transport corridor. So in that context, it's very important. More simply, I think what it does is that it opens up the domestic consumption market as well the domestic import and export market." explains Sanusha Naidu, senior researcher, South African Regional Poverty Network.

The Chinese-funded railway line has spurred economic growth. It has also eased traffic congestion, providing a fast and reliable mode of transport between the capital, Nairobi, and the port city of Mombasa.