| BABAJIDE OKEOWO |
The spokesperson for the Nigerian Railway Corporation, NRC, Mr. Yakub Mahmoud has revealed that the corporation is poised to run a train service every hour along the Abuja-Kaduna line by the time they are able to deploy more coaches and locomotives.
He said the train service, currently running eight trips daily except Wednesday (four each from Kaduna and Abuja), might be increased to hourly once sufficient coaches and locos were deployed to the route.
He said: “The ultimate plan is to run a train every hour along the Abuja-Kaduna line by the time the NRC is able to deploy more coaches and locos there.
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“Currently, the coaches and other rolling stock are being assembled in China and would be delivered to the NRC as soon as they are ready.”
Mahmoud also stated that some NRC engineers would be travelling to China for about six-month training in how to carry out effective maintenance on the locomotives and others.
Meanwhile, Transport Minister, ChibuikeAmaechi has asked the contractor handling the 156km Lagos-Ibadan railway project, China Civil Engineering and Construction Company, to complete the civil work by April to ensure the delivery of the whole project in May.
He said if civil work was completed before the rainy season, the laying of tracks could progress unhindered.
The minister spoke during a routine inspection of the project with officials of the ministry and the NRC in Ibadan.
He said the tempo of work on the project had been slow because of the general elections because the contractor, in line with their company’s policy, had to demobilise its workers on the site during the election period.
