Tag Archives: Rail

Abuja Airport Closure: Nigerian government to buy more rail coaches.

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The Nigeria Government has approved the purchase of additional coaches for use on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.

The measure is to meet with the additional passengers on the route expected from the planned closure of the Abuja International Airport in March.

The Minister of State for Transportation, Hadi Sirika, who addressed State House correspondents at the end of the meeting of the Federal Executive Council at the Council Chamber, Aso Rock Villa, Abuja, on Wednesday said the meeting approved two memoranda from the ministry.

“One is for the procurement of coaches; two first class coaches, two for baggage and six for long distance economy class to improve upon this Kaduna airport project,” he said.

The minister said the purchases are to “boost rail transportation on the Abuja Kaduna standard gauge railway to improve on passengers and goods and also following the impending closure of the Abuja airport”.

He also said the effort “is to increase our capacity to handle passengers during this airport closure”.

Mr. Sirika said the other memo was for the establishment of joint briefing offices in all 21 federal government airports across the country.

He named the Airports to include those of Lagos, Kano, Abuja, Port Harcourt, Ilorin, Sokoto, Maiduguri, Jos, Yola, Calabar, Enugu, Owerri, Kaduna, Benin, Osubi-Warri, Katsina Zaria, Minna, Bauchi, Ibadan and Akure, adding ” and of course three aerodromes namely; Bonny, Excravos and Eket”.

“These joint briefing offices will include the air automation and would co-locate the track-up projects, the total radar coverage, the air automation system, which include the air automation system and the pilot briefing offices.

“These are prefabricated because during the remodelling exercise of those airports they were tempered with so we thought we should just co-locate them in one area for efficiency and to safeguard against future relocations,” he said.

Nigeria secures $1.5 billion Chinese loan for Lagos-Ibadan rail

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The Federal Government has secured $1.5 billion (about N450 billion) counterpart funding from China for the Lagos-Ibadan rail project set to commence in March.

The Minister for Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, made the disclosure on Wednesday when he appeared before the Gbenga Ashafa-led Senate committee on land transport to give report of his ministry’s 2016 budget and defend the proposal for 2017.

“In the first quarter of 2017, the foundation of the Lagos-Ibadan segment two of the Lagos-Kano rail project will be laid,” said Mr. Amaechi; adding that, “the implication here is that we will start the Lagos-Ibadan rail line before the end of March.

“Our target is to commence from the Apapa seaport down to Ogun and then to Ibadan.”

Lagos-Ibadan rail line is a segment of the Lagos-Kano railway project, one of the most important and ambitious infrastructural targets of the Muhammadu Buhari-led All Progressives Congress government.

In January, the government announced wholesale release of N72 billion as Nigeria’s counterpart funding for the Lagos-Ibadan railway.

Mr. Amaechi  explained to the senators that the $1.5 billion counterpart funding had been approved by China and was being processed by the China Exim Bank.

“The counterpart funding is ready, but don’t forget that we are borrowing the money from China. The China Exim Bank is processing it.

“Our 15 per cent is ready; so, we are waiting for China Exim Bank. They have managed to release and approve $1.5 billion for the Lagos-Ibadan line.

“It is also envisaged that segment three of the Lagos-Kano rail project, which is the Kano-Kaduna stretch, as well as the first phase of the coastal railway line Lagos-Calabar, commencing from Calabar to Port Harcourt with extension to the Onne Deep Seaport will commence after the conclusion of the negotiation of a financing loan agreement,” said Mr. Amaechi.

He then urged the National Assembly to approve the $30 billion national (rolling) borrowing plan of the government. He said the approval was essential for securing funds needed to finance rail projects in the country.

“The National Assembly needs to give us approval for the borrowing plan so that we can commence work. We can’t sign the loan agreement with China unless there is an approval from the National Assembly.

“What the National Assembly has approved is the counterpart funding, but we need the approval to borrow the remaining money. If you look at $6.1 billion in naira, and we are paying 15 per cent, you will know that the remaining amount is coming from China and until we have approval, we cannot do anything.

“Even now, the China Exim Bank has approved $1.5 billion for the Lagos-Ibadan line. We are not able to sign the loan agreement because we need the approval of the National Assembly.”

On the performance of the 2016 budget, the minister said uncompleted projects in the previous year had been included in the proposed 2017 budget.

Speaking for the Senate, Mr. Ashafa promised cooperation with the transportation ministry to ensure implementation of the infrastructural objectives.

Enugu gives 24-hour ultimatum to NRC to replace malfunctioning facilities.

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The Enugu State Government on Wednesday gave a 24-hour ultimatum to the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) to replace malfunctioning facilities in the state to avoid train accident.

The ultimatum was sequel to the killing of a resident of the state by a train on Tuesday along the Ogbete Main Market Enugu.

It could be recalled that the victim, Ikechukwu Imediagwu, a native of Isikwuato in Abia State, the only son of his parents, died instantly, while other persons were said to have sustained injuries.

A government delegation led by the State’s Commissioner for Commerce and Industry, Mr. Sam Ogbu Nwobodo, expressed anger at the railway crossing in Ogbete Market Enugu, where it discovered that none of the barriers was in good working condition.

Other government officials on the team included the Commissioner for transport, Vitalis Okechi, the caretaker chairmen of Enugu North and Enugu South, Isaac Igwe and Sunday Ugwu among others.

Officials of the Railway Corporation and men of the police traffic unit had engaged in heated argument, as the latter and other eye witnesses insisted that nobody was on ground to give signal before the train suddenly bumped into the market road.
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Nwobodo, however, intervened insisting that government must get to the root of the matter as it was not ready to toy with lives of residents.

“We are talking of loss of life here and I want us to bear that in mind. All the parties involved must cooperate with the government to ensure that this does not happen again.”

Rail transport will reduce road crashes – FRSC

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The Corps Marshal, Federal Road Safety Corps, Boboye Oyeyemi, has said a functional rail system will reduce road carnages and the attendant loss of lives and property in the country.

 

He said that car crashes on the Abuja-Kaduna Expressway had reduced drastically since the inauguration of the light rail in July, 2016, adding that the dense traffic on the highway had also reduced to a large extent.

 

Oyeyemi said this on Thursday in Abuja at a press briefing on the Sallah special patrol and the commencement of enforcement of speed limiting device in commercial vehicles.

 

He commended the Federal Government for investing in rail transport, noting that an improved inter-modal transport system across the country would assist the corps to achieve its UN Decade of Action goals.

 

He said, I commend the government for reviving the rail transport in the country. Since the inauguration of the Abuja-Kaduna rail line, road traffic crashes has reduced along that corridor, as well as the usually dense traffic on that road.

“If the rail transport and other inter-modal system are introduced in other parts of the country, it would help the FRSC to achieve its desired objectives of reducing road traffic crashes and fatalities.”

 

The Corps Marshal said the enforcement of the speed limiting device in commercial vehicles would commence on October 1, 2016, adding that the facility was meant to reduce fatalities on the road and not to punish operators.

 

He explained that the agency had succeeded in reducing road traffic crashes between January and August, 2016 over the figures recorded in the same period in 2015.

 

Oyeyemi said, “From January to August, 2015, a total of 5,953 crashes were recorded involving 39,119 people in which 3,233 of them died and 17,189 others were rescued alive. Comparatively, within the same period in 2016, a total of 5,707 crashes were recorded involving 38,222 people out of which 3,048 died and 17,446 others were rescued alive.”

President Buhari Officially Commissions ABUJA-Kaduna Railway (Pictures)

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ADDRESS BY PRESIDENT MUHAMMADU BUHARI, PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA AT THE COMMISSIONING AND FLAG-OFF CEREMONY OF ABUJA (IDU)-KADUNA STANDARD GAUGE TRAIN SERVICE ON TUESDAY, 26TH JULY, 2016.

 

abujakad rail 1

 

Protocol

 

I am delighted to be here today to commission the Abuja – Kaduna railway track and flag-off the Abuja-Kaduna train services (Passengers & Freight) on Nigeria’s first ever Standard Gauge Rail track to go into operation. This project was conceived by a previous administration, started by the last government and I am pleased to complete and commission it.

 

2. It is on record that between 1963 and early ‘80s, Nigeria had a vibrant rail system which conveyed agricultural and livestock and solid mineral resources to Lagos and Port Harcourt sea ports from where they are exported to other parts of the world. It is our vision and hope that those good old days will soon be back with us and indeed in a more prosperous way with the restoration of rail transport system which today’s occasion symbolises.

 

3. The construction of the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge rail track commenced in 2009 and happily, sixteen years after, we are on the threshold of presenting to Nigerians a Standard Gauge Railway Train Service that will be safe, fast and reliable. The Abuja-Kaduna train service will provide the much needed alternative transport link between the Federal Capital Territory and Kaduna State, a corridor which has a huge potential for industries, agricultural activities and a growing labour force.

 

4. The Minister of Transportation, Chief Rotimi Amaechi and his team have put great efforts in the last few months to ensure the successful completion of this project under this Administration. Completion and Commissioning of this project is indeed in keeping with our vision of bringing about the desired change to make life easier for the generality of Nigerians through the development and provision of the necessary social and physical infrastructure.

 

5. In this regard, I wish to assure Nigerians that most State capitals and major commercial and production centres will be linked with railway system as a way of bringing about rapid socio-economic development and improving the quality of life of the Nigerians and promoting social & regional integration.

 

6. Furthermore, I wish to also reassure Nigerians that due attention will be placed on pursuing the 25-Year Strategic Railway Master Plan which is aimed at rehabilitating the existing 3,505km narrow gauge rail line and developing and constructing new standard gauge rail lines across the country.

 

7. As we celebrate the symbolic return of rail service today I wish to reiterate the commitment of this Administration to pursue with greater vigour and determination rehabilitation and construction of other rail lines including the major Lagos-Calabar and Kano-Lagos lines.

 

8. As we get down to work, I look forward to flagging off many more lines outlined in our transport policy programme.

 

Thank you, and safe journey to all our travelers.

 

See some of the pictures at the commissioning below:

 

abujakad rail

 

abujakadunarail buhari

 

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bukola amaechi

 

Buhari in train