A Nairobi High Court has halted the $US 3.6bn project to build a standard-gauge railway linking Nairobi with Mombasa due to a dispute over compensation for land acquisition.

KENYA's president, Mr Mwai Kibaki, officially opened a $US 4.7m 2.3km extension of the Nairobi – Embakasi line to Syokimau on November 14, which is said to be the first new station built in Kenya for 80 years.