This SGR runs parallel to the narrow-gauge Uganda Railway that was completed in 1901[3] under British colonial rule.

The prime contractor was the China Road & Bridge Corporation CRBC, which hired 25,000 Kenyans to work on the railway.

[9] Passenger uptake has exceeded expectations,[10] with the train carrying 2 million riders in the first 17 months of operation.

[13] The Mombasa-Nairobi SGR generally runs parallel to the Uganda Railway, a metre-gauge line that was built during British colonial rule.

Because of the rough and hilly terrain, large portions of the SGR were built on viaducts and embankments and in cuttings.

[18] Freight services are provided between Port Reitz, just west of Mombasa Island, and the inland container depot in the Embakasi division of Nairobi.

By 2016, passenger trains were taking an entire day to travel from Nairobi to Mombasa, compared to 12 hours during the early 1990s.

In 2011, Kenya signed a memorandum of understanding with the China Road & Bridge Corporation to build a standard-gauge railway between Mombasa and Nairobi.

It attracts an interest rate of approximately 3.34 percent per annum and will be due in 30 semi-annual installments, beginning on 21 January 2021 until 21 July 2035.

[41] On 22 July 2020, Mohammed Abdalla Swazuri, the chairman of National Land Commission, and Atanas Kariuki Maina, managing director of the Kenya Railways Corporation, were among 18 officials, businesspeople and companies arrested on corruption charges involving land allocation for the $3 billion flagship Nairobi–Mombasa railway.

[43][44] While many of the employees working on the SGR are Kenyans, as of July 2018 Chinese workers still occupied most of the critical positions, including dispatchers and locomotive drivers.

This sparked political controversy in Kenya, as after one year of operations a full handover to Kenyans was yet to take place.

[45][46] The Kenya Transport Ministry explained that a full handover would occur in 2027, according to the current agreement;[47] later, the interim review was initiated to study the feasibility of transferring critical positions to the Kenya Railways Corporation, which successfully negotiated takeover shifting towards an earlier date of May 2022 with the CRBC.

During the transition period in June 2021, the Kenya Railroad Company had already taken over the ticketing, security, and refuelling departments.