A limited commuter service will start on October 17 between Nairobi, Rongai and Ngong. A passenger service will also run from Nairobi via Ngong to Suswa on two days per week. Phase 2A will eventually have 12 stations.

Freight services will start when a dry port has been constructed in Naivasha.

The Shillings 150bn ($US 1.45bn) Chinese-funded project was implemented by China Road & Bridge Corporation and includes a 4.5km tunnel at Ngong. Phase 2A is an extension of the 472km Mombasa - Nairobi SGR which opened on May 31 2017.

Plans to extend the SGR from Naivasha via Kisumu to Malaba on the Ugandan border have been dropped in favour of a Shillings 15bn public-private partnership scheme to upgrade the existing metre-gauge railway, which has yet to be approved. This would entail constructing a short Shillings 6bn extension from the SGR to connect it to the existing line which runs through to Uganda.