KIU, Kenya—The soporific buzz of bees fills the abandoned train station at Kiu, a two-hour drive from Kenya’s capital Nairobi. Rusting rail sleepers lay on the grass outside; a slender snake slithers away after footsteps disturb its sunbaked snooze.
A new Chinese-built rail track lies about 500 meters away from the old colonial-era railway station, which closed down in 2012. But the new high-speed trains thunder through without stopping; Kiu is just a dusty blur glimpsed through the window.
