Recently, a freight train runs on the Mombasa-Nairobi railway line next to the mangrove forest in Mombasa, Kenya.

The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which was officially opened to traffic in 2017, passes through wildlife reserves such as Nairobi National Park and Tsavo National Park. In order to reduce the impact on the environment, the railway has adopted a series of measures during the design and construction process.

On the basis of investigating the living habits and migration paths of wild animals, a total of 14 large-scale wild animal passages and 79 bridges have been set up on the whole line of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway. All bridge-type animal passages have a clear height of more than 6.5 meters, which is convenient for large animals such as elephants and giraffes to pass.

Set isolation fences on both sides of the line to prevent animals from passing through and reduce the chance of animals colliding with trains. Sound barriers were installed on the grand bridge across Nairobi National Park to reduce the noise of trains passing by. In order to minimize the impact of the railway on the mangroves in Mombasa, a number of protection measures such as bypassing the mangroves were taken during the design and construction of the project.Editor/Ma Xue