Lagos-Ibadan fast train service takes off

The return of the golden days of efficient train services, one would say, as the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line takes off today.Today, history will be made as Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi opens the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line.The project is in fulfilment of the Buhari’s administration’s commitment to bequeath to the nation an efficient, safe, reliable and affordable local train system that would compete with others globally.Inaugurating the first standard gauge rail line last year, President Muhammadu Buhari spoke of his administration’s commitment to a train system that is “safe, fast and reliable,” pledging that all state capitals would be connected with standard gauge.It was not an empty boast. It was the corner-piece of the 25-year strategic master plan of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC). The Lagos-Ibadan train service is part of the bigger component to connect the Port of Lagos to the fringes of Niger border in Kano.The project was awarded to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) in 2006 for $8.3 billion. When the government could not secure funds for the project, it decided to build the standard gauge line in segments and rehabilitate the narrow gauge line to meet the transportation needs of Nigerians.Though only the 187-km long Abuja-Kaduna segment was delivered last year, it took the government 16 years to do so. Its siting is strategic because it is the first time Abuja would be connected to the railway network.The segment, expected to be completed in December 2014, cost $876 million; it consists of $500 million loan from the Exim Bank of China and the balance from the government.Though construction began in February 2011, and track laying two years later, train operation did not begin until last June, while passenger and freight service took off a month later.The Lagos-Ibadan segment was awarded to CCECC for $1.53 billion in 2012.The government promised to complete this section by 2018.Other segments to which network was broken and on which the government is determined to begin work are: Ibadan-Ilorin (200 km), Ilorin-Minna (270 km), Minna-Abuja and Kaduna-Kano (305 km Credit: The nation.