The Federal government has commenced the transportation of cargos from the Dala inland dry port in Kano to the Apapa port terminal in Lagos using the narrow gauge railway.
Speaking during the commissioning of the freight movement at the Dry Port in Kano, the Minister of Transportation, Said Alkali said the service will ease the movement of goods from the seaport to the hinterland.
“The fixing of the narrow guage was to ensure the resumption of freight service from Lagos to Kano being the commercial nerve centre of northern Nigeria without interrupting the standard guage construction.”
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He explained that the construction of standard guage from Lagos to Kano- Maradi is progressing at appreciable speed as the federal government recently secured finance for the Kaduna to Kano ongoing standard guage rail projects.
Alkali also revealed that the government has also initiated rail project that will link Badagry to Tincan – Apapa -Lekki-Ijebu Ode- Kajola and then connect to Lagos- Kano- Maradi.
On his part, the Managing Director of the Nigeria Railway Cooperation (NRC) Fidet Okhiria explained that the event is the first movement of freight by rail from the inland dry port in Kano to the seaport in Apapa.
He commented the Minister pushed them to ensure they deliver on the narrow gauge such that movement of train on the narrow guage would begin as soon as possible.
The MD said the train left Apapa on the evening of 26th and arrived on the 31st of April saying they tried to avoid night movements of the train as the line was preceded with railbus and security as well as engineering men to ensure the track is safe and the goods are delivered without hitches.
“As the train leaves here today, they intend to get to Apapa within 4-days, there are some areas due to security reasons we can’t run in the night and we respect that, so the train will be moving from 7am to 6 pm. It is better to be late than be late, so we take that as a principle.”
Okhiria urged Nigerians to use the services for their import and export, adding that the train service is cheaper, safer and faster than the road.
He revealed that the train will be travelling at 48km per hour.
