This is a drone photo of the Nairobi Station of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway taken in Nairobi, the capital of Kenya on September 20, 2023 .

      The Mombasa-Nairobi Railway is a 480-kilometer-long standard-gauge railway in Kenya that uses Chinese standards throughout its entire line, starting from the port city of Mombasa in the east and ending in Nairobi in the west. This railway is the largest infrastructure construction project in Kenya since its independence and is also a "flagship project" for Kenya to achieve its national development vision by 2030.

      In May 2017, the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway was completed and opened to traffic. On the eve of its opening, Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta, who was in China to attend the first Belt and Road Forum for International Cooperation, brought a gift specifically for President Xi Jinping. It was a golden hollow window paper-cut USB flash drive strung together with red Chinese knots, which stored images of the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway: a railway line stretched forward on the vast East African grasslands, and a modern station rose from the ground...

      Since its opening, this "Century Railway" has accelerated Kenya's modernization, promoted connectivity in East Africa and win-win cooperation between China and Africa, and trained a large number of railway professionals for Kenya. Hundreds of Kenyan students have gone to Beijing Jiaotong University to study with the help of the project, and most of them have entered the Kenyan railway department.

      In early 2024, representatives of Kenyan international students and alumni of Beijing Jiaotong University wrote a letter to President Xi Jinping. In the letter, they told President Xi Jinping about their personal experience in building the Belt and Road Initiative and their gratitude to China. "It is thanks to China's help that ordinary Kenyans can afford to take the train."

      The lead author Kariu said that in 2021, after graduating from Beijing Jiaotong University, he returned to China to join the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway project and became a railway engineer. In 2023, he returned to his alma mater for further studies, hoping to become a railway expert and help his hometown achieve better development of rail transit.

      On January 17, 2024, President Xi Jinping replied to the letter. The letter said that the Mombasa-Nairobi Railway is a flagship project and a successful model of the "Belt and Road" jointly built by China and Kenya. I am happy to see that you have become connected with China because of this "happy road", and you are the witnesses and beneficiaries of the friendly cooperation between China and Kenya and China and Africa, and even more so the builders and disseminators.

      President Xi Jinping's reply letter has aroused enthusiastic response among Kenyan students and alumni representatives of Beijing Jiaotong University. Kariu said excitedly: "President Xi Jinping's reply letter makes me feel that my mission is important and I am full of hope for the future. I hope the friendship between Kenya and China will last forever!"