Lagos-Ibadan 156km rail project ready for use July

There are strong indications that the 156-km Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail project will be ready to move passengers by next month. A visit to the ongoing project last week, the tracks had been laid up to 152km, leaving just four kilometres to complete it. This is as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) received two train coaches, while more will be arriving soon.

‘’Yesterday (Thursday) two coaches got to Papalanto and hopefully by next month, we would be going for further inspection of another set and test. We hope by September more locomotive would arrive,’’ NRC managing director, Fidet Okhira, told journalists late Thursday during an inspection visit to the project.

However, work on the project from Iju to the Apapa port which has become synonymous with
traffic logjams affecting businesses is still lingering for many months due to a multiplicity of challenges along the right of way.

During an inspection tour of the project with transport journalists Thursday, Ibrahim Al-Hassan, the new chairman of the NRC, expressed hope that by the end of July, both the second track which  had reached 140km and the first one already at 153km, would get to the Ibadan station.

‘’We want to complete this as quickly as we can so that other and we could put the tracks to
use. As soon as this is done, we will continue in other sections,’’ he stated. ‘’Laying the tracks is the most important. By the time we finish laying the tracks, we would be able to move passengers from Lagos to Ibadan. Then the intermediary stations can come up later. We can have temporary stations if we need to,’’ the chairman added.

He noted that there were intrusions into the right of way on the corridor. While some had NRC’s
approvals, others had none and would need to be relocated as quickly as possible to fast- track
the pace of work. Okhira also disclosed that just like the Ikeja end, NRC had found a solution to some of the problems militating against the project from the Flour Mills end to the Apapa port, including the Oshodi corridor where there is a huge industrial and massive generator that is being evacuated.