by Jin Zheng, Christine Lagat

NAIROBI, May 23 (Xinhua) -- Thirty Kenyan police officers will soon travel to China to participate in a four-week training on railway security funded by the Chinese government.

Economic and Commercial Counselor Guo Ce of the Chinese Embassy in Kenya on Wednesday hosted a farewell luncheon for the police officers and stressed that enhanced security is key to smooth operation of Kenya's Standard Gauge Railway (SGR) launched on May 31, 2017.

"We are delighted to see that the Kenyan government and the Chinese operator have recently incorporated stringent security measures to curb insecurity and crime. At present, the SGR passenger and cargo operations are in good conditions," said Guo.

Kenyan police drawn from various agencies like railways, ports, wildlife, intelligence and criminal investigations will participate in the training seminar on improving safety of passengers and cargo ferried through the Mombasa-Nairobi railway.

The training will combine lectures, field work and study tours in order to boost the capacity of the officers to police the SGR passenger and cargo trains.

"We believe that the bilateral seminar will provide you with an opportunity to know more about China. You will learn about China's national conditions, the history of China's railway development, special lectures such as railway crimes and railway firefighting, etc," said Guo.

Patrick Makokha, Deputy Commandant of Kenya Railways and Ports' Police, said the training will cover all aspects of security related to the operations of the SGR.

"The officers are drawn from all parts of the country who are tasked with providing security to railways and ports. They will be trained on how to guard the rails as well as conduct of investigations and evidence gathering," said Makokha.

Johnstone Mwarigha, Assistant Superintendent of Police and team leader of the security officers destined for China, said advanced training is key to enhancing safety of the SGR project that has been a game changer in Kenya.

"The training is a noble idea and we expect it will enable police officers to boost security of the SGR," Mwarigha said, adding that no major security bleach has been witnessed since the launch of the SGR project.