UPDATE (8th January, 2018): The official Madaraka Express online booking platform can be found here
As last week hit its eleventh hour, Kenya Railways took it to Twitter to reveal that they will unveil their new online booking and payments platform on Monday the 12 of June, 2017.
Kenya Railways will unveil a new online ticket payment platform on Monday June 12, 2017 to ensure convenience in travel for all customers. pic.twitter.com/4MRAvoB3Bz
— #MadarakaExpress (@SGR_Kenya) June 7, 2017
Well, Monday came and passed and for a moment, we were ready for some PR explanations for the delay, but instead we got silence. Tuesday…Wednesday…Thursday…
It’s June 19 and still no word from Kenya Railways. However, they finally updated the website to announce that they have delayed the launch of the platform due to “unavoidable circumstances” and they would be up “in a few hours”.
“Few Hours” turned to a lot of hours, which turned to days – no kidding – but finally, Kenyans can now access the online booking platform and book for their ride to and from Mombasa or Nairobi.
How to book Madaraka Express tickets online
- Access https://traintickets.co.ke/ (for some reason the website does not work fully on Chrome and Safari)
- You will see a form to select whether you want a return trip or a one way ticket, as well as your travelling dates
- You will then be required to choose which cabin you want, i.e. economy class or business class.
- Select your seats
- Enter your details i.e. name, phone number, email
- Select your payment method, either cash or M-Pesa
- Confirm your booking
Unfortunately, you cannot pay for your ticket online, so you will still have to physically visit the train stations or use the cumbersome M-Pesa method.
UPDATE 1: The online booking platform is still under testing. Kenya Railways says that it will launch towards the end of August.
UPDATE 2: So, it’s September and instead of an online booking platform, Kenya Railways gave us a USSD system to book tickets. I guess it is a good step as we continue waiting for the online platform.
UPDATE 3: Kenya Railways finally launched the official online booking platform and it works well – Madaraka Express Train Online Booking Platform Goes Live
