visalo: Thank you Lord for providing us with a leader of vision and sense of belonging. just relatively two yrs and some months in power, gej has done what some president couldn`t achieved for a 8yrs. just waiting for otukpo, lafia Enugu interstate dual carriage way construction flag off. Fresh Air Nigeria. Kudos Presido

naptu2: Gosh! I've got a lot to say about this, but I'm very busy at the moment. I'll summarise.

1) The rail line to Apapa (or at least one of them) was rehabilitated and has been conveying passengers from Iddo/Ebute-Metta since late last year/early this year. Apparently they've now rehabilitated the section that goes to the port.

2) There are a lot of factories in the Ijora and Apapa area that can use these trains to move their goods inland.

3) This line goes as far as Ajaokuta, Osun, Kano, etc. This means farmers, manufacturers and mining companies upland can move their goods straight to the port (no bribing police on the roads, armed robbers, bad roads, etc).

4) Less trailers on the road = less wear and tear on the road, accidents caused by trailers, traffic jams caused by broken down trucks, etc.

5) It'll probably be cheaper.

I'll be back with more.

olahero: That's Nigeria problem, important things are always late to touch, they do right things at wrong time.....! GEJ is a failure to this nation, #fact

taharqa2: Thanks again, for your Elucidating post, as usual.......@topic, I like to highlight smthing that most of you guys have probably overlooked: which is that it is a PRIVATE Cop that would run the Freight Evacuation service. This is a most strategic move by d NRC, NPA and d Terminal Concessionaires, as it would enhance d substainability of d project. This must be the way we ought to run Rail services in this country going further. I however, do not really understand how this is going to work in this instance as d new Railway Bill (which should abrogate d Railways Act 1955) has not yet been passed to the best of my understanding

Sincere 9gerian:
You'r correct. That law has not been passed. It is yet to get to the federal executive council. It has just been approved by BPP/BPE. From there it will move to FEC and then to the NASS. We run a very bulky bureaucracy in this country. We can only hope that it can be passed next year. Meanwhile, little concessions here and there (like the one in the report) can still take place, notwithstanding the law. Even the obsolete railway act even forbids state gov from building railways. But state gov with resources have embarked on building railways with tacit approval of the FG, notwithstanding the laws. Massive concessions like the entire Lagos-kano railway will wait till the law is passed.

ZACHIE: That rail line runs from APMT to Apapa railway yard. for now.
A distance of not more than 4kms.
What APMT has demonstrated is their readiness to do business if only the thickheads up above in ABJ will play ball.

What kind of cargo movement are talking about her?

Transfers to terminals or fully cleared goods? Apparenetly, that had not been fully addressed.
For one, fully cleared goods will not fit the dynamics of Customs operations in the port as presently constituted
So, you must be talking of transfers to terminals.

Which terminal in the whole of Lagos has the facility to receive trains, apart from Lilypond?
Even Lilypond rail lines have been laid dormant for a long time.
At best, the APMT rail project can be useful for movement of containers with the port apron areas alone.
Positioning containers for examination and return
Moving containers from ship sides to the port stacking area,
loading of empty containers for evacuation
and sundry tasks within the port area.
It is no time for jubilation and stupid praise singing
GEJ is still sleeping. Most of the things he is laying claims to are products of OBJ foresight, including this one.
It takes huge courage to subdue the NAtional Assembly to get these laws passed.
Does GEJ have the courage?

Sincere 9gerian:
I thought you were making some point until you brought in "OBJ foresight". Maybe you meant OBJ stupidity. It is utterly stupid for a govt not to able to rehabilitate existing railways in 8yrs. If it took a govt more than 8yrs to package "foresight" for rehabilitating or maintaining existing railways, how long will take the same govt to build NEW railways? Maybe 100yrs. Yeye dey smell.

otokx:

Keep up with the lies,

I joined nairaland in 2005 by the way and the problem is not from any village, power supply in the UNIPORT area has actually decreased this 2013 compared to 2012.

ZACHIE:
If OBJ had not privatized the Ports and had left NPA to run it, will this project see the light of day? Would it have been conceptualised?
Ode, live is denial, but we know OBJ had good intentions and he followed through

manny4life:

You're saying this same thing he's saying only differently. His post is explaining how inept OBJ's administration was, it did not take Obj 8 years to privatize the ports, it was completed in few months, no longer than 18months. If Obj used same swift action - privatization or govt, this project would have been completed in record time even before Yaradua. The point here is GEJ started the rehabilitation agenda, actualized it and putting it to work.

It about two years for GEJ to rehabilitate our rail system and putting it back to service (though it needs newer rolling stock), if OBJ was serious about it, 8 years is more than ENOUGH to build (not rehabilitate) hundreds of miles of rail. Like someone suggested, the Railway Act is what's holding up Nigeria and needs to be amended or even repealed, as soon as Railway is privatized, foreign and domestic investment will follow suit.

ZACHIE: That rail line runs from APMT to Apapa railway yard. for now.
A distance of not more than 4kms.
What APMT has demonstrated is their readiness to do business if only the thickheads up above in ABJ will play ball.

What kind of cargo movement are talking about her?

Transfers to terminals or fully cleared goods? Apparenetly, that had not been fully addressed.
For one, fully cleared goods will not fit the dynamics of Customs operations in the port as presently constituted
So, you must be talking of transfers to terminals.

Which terminal in the whole of Lagos has the facility to receive trains, apart from Lilypond?
Even Lilypond rail lines have been laid dormant for a long time.
At best, the APMT rail project can be useful for movement of containers with the port apron areas alone.
Positioning containers for examination and return
Moving containers from ship sides to the port stacking area,
loading of empty containers for evacuation
and sundry tasks within the port area.
It is no time for jubilation and stupid praise singing
GEJ is still sleeping. Most of the things he is laying claims to are products of OBJ foresight, including this one.
It takes huge courage to subdue the NAtional Assembly to get these laws passed.
Does GEJ have the courage?

[size=14pt]Nigeria: NRC Reopens Passenger Train Services in Apapa[/size]

21st Oct 2011.

In its bid to provide transport solution in the Lagos metropolis, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on Wednesday reopened train operations in Apapa station.

The Public Relations Officer, Mr. Segun Esan who disclosed this in a telephone interview with Daily Champion said the passenger turnout was very impressive.

He stated that the first train carried over 2000 passengers from Apapa to Ijoko in Ogun state.

The development may indicate the beginning of decongestion of traffic gridlock that has become part of daily features of Apapa as most passengers could now be conveyed by train.

"NRC on Wednesday commenced train services from Apapa to Ijoko, the first train conveyed not less than 2000 passengers" he said.

Meanwhile in a recent chat Daily Champion the Railway District Manager (RDM) Lagos District, Mr. John Dottie said the frequency of the mass transit train has been increased to three times daily from Ijoko in Ogun state to Ebute-Metta in Lagos.

Dottie stated that the mass transit train services which is run by the district carry over 9000 passengers on a daily basis.

This, he said was made possible by the new locomotives the federal government acquired in its bid to revitalise the nation's railway system.

Dottie said the district recently introduced the business class, adding that plans are under way to provide train service on the route on hourly basis.

"With support from Federal Government and our management, we have introduced the business class on this mass transit trains, we have air-conditioned coaches with inbuilt television sets, and its well patronised by members of the public" he said.

According to him, the corporation makes at over N1 million everyday on passengers trains alone, adding that once the rehabilitation on the lines were completed the freight trains service would commence.

"Where can make good money is the freight trains, we are just waiting for rehabilitation work to be completed on the track for us to start running freight trains, as I am talking to you Four Mills have written to us because we used to carry goods for them to Kano and Maiduguri and we also carry for Dangote" he said.

He said that individuals, oil marketers and big business concerns are all warming for commencement of freight trains, adding that the resumption of freight train services in the country will take a lot stress of the road and also reduce carnages that have bedevilled the nation's road since the collapse of the rail system.

[size=14pt]Why rehabilitated port rail system is not in use - NPA[/size]

FRANCIS EZEM 06/04/2012 02:21:00

The Nigerian Ports Authority has said that the poor state of the national rail lines is taking its toll on the efficiency of the rails at the nation’s major seaports, thus, hampering efficient release of cargo.Managing Director of the authority, Mallam Oman Suleiman, who spoke shortly after flagging off of the 1.6kilometer road at the Apapa Ports Complex, said the authority appreciates the role of efficient rail system in modern seaport operations, especially in terms of hitch free and timely release of cargo. According to him, the authority has realised of the important role of efficient rail system and rehabilitated the rails at the LPC, Apapa, but regretted that the rail lines are not currently in use due to extraneous factors.He noted that the poor state of the national rail system has made it practically impossible for the port rails to work, arguing that the rails at the port need those of the national guage to function.

[size=13pt]“When a train takes off from the port, it goes to the cargo destination through the national rail lines but since the national rail lines are not working for now, there is little or nothing those at the ports will do in terms of moving goods in and out of the ports”, Suleiman noted.[/size]

He also disclosed that in addition to the completion of the rehabilitation of the Apapa Port rail systems, the authority is working on the rails at the Port Harcourt Ports with a view to making them efficient.

In addition, it was gathered that the authority is working on building of rail systems at the Tin Can Island Port, also in Apapa, which were hurriedly built in the 1970s without rails to decongest Apapa and Port Harcourt Ports arising from the post-war construction importation.

The managing director had argued that in as much as the authority is committed to en-throning multi-modalism in the nation’s port system, the rails at the ports will not work if the national rail lines are not functional.

Stakeholders have argued that Nigeria needs to enthrone a regime of multi-modal transport system that connects all the different transport modes for the ports to be efficient.

According to the stakeholders, Nigeria need a transport policy that emphasises the use of the major transport modes like the road, rail and sea for individual mode to be efficient, arguing that until that is done, Nigeria would continue to face serious transport challenges.

Meanwhile, there has been immence pressure on land transport with the attendant high cost of maintaining the roads due to the failure of other transport modes, especially wa-ter and rail.While blaming the Nigerian Waterways Authority for fail-ing to live up to its responsibility of making the waterways navigable, they believe the current pressure on the roads will reduce if water transport is encouraged.

On the failure of the rail system, experts believe that the rail sector has over the years become a conduit pipe to siphon the nation’s resources from the days of the military regimes to the current democratic dispensation.

[size=14pt]Cargo train service skeletal two months two months after launch[/size]

on February 07, 2013 at 8:31 pm

By JONAH NWOKPOKU & WILLIAM JIMOH

The Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC, is yet to commence full cargo operations two months after launch. The cargo train service was launched alongside the passenger inter-city train service on the penultimate week of December 2012.

However, investigation by Vanguard showed that while the passenger train service was completing its sixth inter-city operation by the end of January, the cargo train service train has remained sketchy after a test-run operation which carried twenty tankers of petroleum product, about 40 metric tonnes at the launch. NRC has said this is as a result of limited freights wagons.

Speaking to Vanguard at the Apapa railway station, the Apapa station manager, FNCE Okorie, noted that cargo train service has remained sketchy as a result of inadequacy in the availability of freight wagons.

“There has not been any week since the lunch which we did not move. But because of the inadequacy on the part of the available locomotives, one has to return before another one takes off and that has been causing delay.”

Mr. Okorie who noted that some of the cargoes that have been moved included cement and some construction materials used in the rehabilitation of the rail tracks also said that NRC has got offer from Flour Mills of Nigeria and lifting of their products will commence in the next two weeks.

“For now, we are moving more of constr materials for the contractors that are working on the rails. We have also moved cement from Ewekoro in Ogun state but we move more of the construction materials for some of these companies like CCECC and to some parts of the west where they are doing constrconstructions.

Most of our wagons are fully engaged on all these construction materials.  But we already have some offers from some private companies like Flour Mills and in less than two weeks, we will be moving their products.” Mr. Okorie explained.

When contacted on the telephone, the Assistant Director, Public Relations, Mr. David Ndanusa denied that cargo trains service has been skeletal. He said that NRC has three cargo trains at the moment and has undertaken four cargo train operations since after after the launch. He enumerated their operation since after the launch.

“We have carried cement for Lafarge Wempco Ltd from Lagos to Illorin, ofa and Minna, sand traffic between kanfachan and Oturkpo, and wheats traffic from Apapa to Kaduna. We have also carried construction equipment for CCECC and lifted petroleum products from Apapa to Kaduna up to five times.”

Mr. Ndanusa maintained that although NRC earns more money in the passenger train service, the cargo train service is still effective at its current operation capacity. Asked why some members of the staff at the Apapa station, including the station manager, are not aware of the regular traffic at the cargo section, he said that was because they are not in the operations section.

“If they are not in the operation, they won’t know because they may not be around when the trains leave.” However, on the course of this investigation, Vanguard found some engineers at the cargo train workshop working on two cargo trains but no cargo trains were seen offloading any products.

[size=14pt]NRC commences third weekly Lagos-Kano train service[/size]

2013-07-20 23:00:49

The Nigerian Railway Corporation has increased its weekly Lagos-Kano passenger train service to three with the introduction of another train as part of the first phase Capacity Enhancement Programme.

A statement by the NRC on Friday noted that the new train service will depart Iddo (Lagos) at 11.00am and is scheduled to arrive in Kano at 5pm the following day.

The statement signed by Assistant Director (Public Relations), Mr. David Ndakotsu, said that the introduction of this service would result in an increase in the number of passengers moved between Lagos and Kano, from the present 3,500 weekly to about 5,500 weekly.

It will be recalled that the first weekly Lagos to Kano passenger train service, which departs Lagos at 12 noon on Friday commenced on December 21, 2012.

Later, the second weekly train service was introduced, departing Lagos at 9am on Tuesday and terminating in Ilorin with a connecting service from Offa to Kano.

The statement explained that it is anticipated that the introduction of the third weekly Lagos to Kano passenger train service would help to decongest existing services and avail passengers a more comfortable and pleasant journey.

It disclosed that the next service to be introduced in the corporation's Capacity Enhancement Programme would be the haulage of bran and wheat flour for Dufil Prima foods (Indomie).

It said that 436 tonnes of the product were expected to be moved weekly from Apapa to Kaduna, adding that the service would commence before the end of July.

[size=13pt]"Furthermore the corporation will in August commence the haulage of container freight from APM terminal in Apapa Port to Inland Container Nigeria Limited, container depots in Kaduna and Kano," the statement said.[/size]

The NRC Managing Director, Mr. Seyi Sijuwade, had also confirmed that the intended public private partnership initiatives would further enhance the capacity of train services across the country.