Somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Kenya lies the abandoned train station of Kiu.
Rusty signs.
Weeds next to the tracks.
The village is about a two-hour drive from Nairobi.
A high-speed rail line commissioned by China has been running through it since 2017.
The old and new rails are only a few meters apart.
The residents of Kius used to take the train to work or to the doctor, but now no train stops here.
At the moment all they can do is wait on the side of the road for the next minibus.
China has invested 3.3 billion dollars in the new rail network as part of the “One Belt, One Road” initiative. A company that aims to strengthen trade between China, Africa and Europe through a wealth of infrastructure projects. The travel time between the metropolises of Mombasa and Nairobi has been halved as a result. Once a day there is a train that stops more frequently than the express train. However, only six of the previous forty-six stops have remained.
Thomas Mutevu, a resident of Kius, says: “The new train is only for the rich, we cannot benefit from it.” Mutevu used to take the train to Nairobi to work there.
Now that the train no longer stops, it has to look for a new job in town.
Other villagers are forced to stay in Nairobi during the week.
Now they only come back to their families on weekends.
Those responsible at Kenya Railways say that within a year there will be 500,000 additional passengers on the route.
In addition, five million tons of goods would be transported in the same period.
Wild elephants and giraffes can be seen in Tsavo East National Park on the express train ride.
Thomas Mutevu is now denied this prospect.