When Kenya announced plans to build a new Standard Gauge Railway from Mombasa to Nairobi, connecting the port to the capital in four hours instead of twelve, it was described as the most ambitious infrastructure project in the country's history since the colonial Uganda Railway. The project, financed by Chinese loans and built by Chinese contractors, was completed in 2017. The Madaraka Express made its first journey on 1 June 2017. But questions about the cost, the debt and whether the line could ever be commercially viable followed the train all the way from the coast.