People’s responses to large infrastructure projects – railways, bridges, highways – are rarely neutral. To some, these projects represent powerful social and political promises of transformative change and a brighter future. To others, they mean evictions and the disruption of livelihoods.

The reaction of Kenyans to the country’s Standard Gauge Railway, dubbed the Madaraka Express, is no different.

In 2017, Kenya finished the railway’s first phase, which connects the Port of Mombasa to the country’s interior. Its second phase stops abruptly in Naivasha, a town 120km northwest of the capital, Nairobi. Ultimately, the railway is planned to reach Kenya’s border with Uganda at Malaba, helping to further connect East Africa’s regional transport and trade.

Alongside other large projects, such as a transport corridor from the Lamu Port to South Sudan and Ethiopia, the Standard Gauge Railway is central to Kenya’s current national development policy, Vision 2030.

The policy frames these mega-projects as key to attracting the private sector interest needed to fuel economic growth, increase exports and alleviate poverty. From this perspective, the new railway is a powerful symbol of development, change and national pride.

But there’s a flip side. In my earlier research on the impact of the railway project, I looked at evictions, displacement and the interruption of livelihoods. In my new study, I set out to examine how people cope with these disruptions in their lives.

Read more: https://theconversation.com/kenyas-big-railway-project-makes-life-even-harder-for-the-poor-by-ignoring-their-reality-192789