On May 14, 2017, in Beijing in early summer, everything was on display.

About 1,500 representatives from more than 130 countries and more than 70 international organizations came to China to participate in the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

　　Kenyatta, then President of Kenya, was full of expectations for this trip to China. In an interview with the media before his departure, he specifically mentioned the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, which was built by a Chinese company and is about to open to traffic, expressing "Thank you very much to China".

　　Kenyatta put this gratitude from the East African plateau into a U disk with golden hollow window grilles strung together by red Chinese knots.

This is a gift he prepared for Chinese President Xi Jinping.

In May 2017, the then Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta presented President Xi Jinping with the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway commemorative USB flash drive.

(Photography / Populus euphratica)

　　The words "Mombasa-Nairobi Railway" (Mombasa-Nairobi Railway) are engraved on the front of the USB drive, and there is a carefully recorded "easter egg" hidden in it. There is such a scene in the video stored on the USB drive: accompanied by cheerful African drums, The camera turns to the vast East African grassland, the railway line extends forward, the modern station rises, and the Chinese and African builders are smiling side by side...

　　When meeting with Kenyatta at the Great Hall of the People, Xi Jinping emphasized that the construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway should be used as the traction to promote the construction of an industrial and economic corridor integrating roads and ports, and jointly create a new pattern of trinity cooperation between the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, Mombasa Port and Mombasa Special Economic Zone. , and proposed to upgrade the positioning of China-Kenya relations to a comprehensive strategic partnership.

On May 15, 2017, President Xi Jinping met at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing with Kenyatta, then President of Kenya, who was in China to attend the Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Pang Xinglei

　　More than 10 days later, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway was officially opened to traffic.

　　On the opening day, Kenyatta led a strong "experience group" to board the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway train, including the first lady, several senior government officials and diplomatic envoys from many countries in Kenya. 47 young students representing 47 counties in Kenya also became the first trainees. batch of passengers.

The "experience group" stopped and went all the way, and Kenyatta personally unveiled the seven railway stations along the way.

Through the window, you can see the "meter-gauge railway" built more than a hundred years ago.

The two railways are not far apart, but marked with very different chapters of history.

On May 31, 2017, the first train of the Mombasa-Nairobi Standard Gauge Railway in Kenya (the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway), which was constructed by a Chinese company, departed, marking the official completion and opening of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Chen Cheng

　　The new chapter begins on December 4, 2015.

On that day, at the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation, Xi Jinping solemnly announced that in order to promote the building of China-Africa comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, China is willing to focus on implementing the "Ten Cooperation Plans" with Africa in the next three years.

　　The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway is an important achievement in the implementation of the "Ten Cooperation Plans".

As the flagship project of the "Belt and Road", the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway is the first railway built in Kenya since its independence, and it is also a modern railway built with Chinese standards, Chinese technology and Chinese equipment.

On December 4, 2015, President Xi Jinping attended the opening ceremony of the Johannesburg Summit of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation and delivered a speech.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Lan Hongguang

　　"I experienced driving a train for the first time in China," said Concilia, a "star driver" who drove the first train of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway.

In early 2017, as one of the seven female drivers recruited by the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway, she participated in a 50-day training at the Shaanxi Baoji Railway Technician College.

"Bringing Chinese train technology to Kenya has greatly improved our infrastructure technology."

　　What impresses Chinese tourists even more is that the flight attendants and conductors of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway wear uniforms of the Chinese version of the railway.

On March 22, 2021, in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway instructed driver Yang Ming and his Kenyan female apprentice Concilia to conduct a pre-departure inspection in the locomotive.

Photo by Xinhua News Agency reporter Li Yan

　　Railways are the arteries of the modern economy.

In recent years, on different important diplomatic occasions, Xi Jinping has repeatedly mentioned the development and construction of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway: "We are willing to support Kenya in building economic belts and industrial parks along the railway" and "the railway construction projects that Kenya is concerned about, China is willing to share with Kenya. Do a good job of feasibility study together with each other" "Strengthen the docking of development strategies, and give full play to the economic and social benefits of key projects such as railways"...

　　Not only the extension of the railway line, but also the road of China-Africa cooperation is getting wider and wider.

　　In December 2019, the extension of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway—the first phase of the Nairobi-Malaysia Railway was opened to traffic; in May 2020, the Naivasha Container Inland Port was completed, becoming an important freight hub on the Nairobi-Malaysia Railway, further expanding Kenya and even East Africa Regional transportation and business map; in July 2022, the new oil terminal in Mombasa Port, Kenya, which was built by a Chinese company, welcomed the first tanker full of diesel and gasoline; in August 2022, the Kenya Karimanyu Dam water supply project Put into operation with Chinese help...

　　People can enjoy their trips and goods can flow freely. The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has become a "golden passage" on the land of East Africa.

Data show that as of the first half of this year, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway has sent a total of 7.945 million passengers, 1.817 million TEUs of containers and 20.293 million tons of cargo.

　　Use China's development to help Africa's development, and ultimately achieve mutual benefit and common development.

Xi Jinping said this is "the greatest 'righteousness' of China-Africa relations".

　　Text / Zimu

　　Dub / Jing Xuan

　　Edit/Haisheng

　　Source/People's Daily, Xinhua News Agency, etc.