Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi during a recent visit to Lagos spoke of the government’s desire to invest in faster trains. He also claimed that the Abuja-Kaduna railway line would be completed in 2016.
He promised that work would commence on the standard gauge on the Calabar-Lagos and Lagos-Kano routes.
“The construction of new lines and rehabilitation of old railway lines will generate over 250,000 direct jobs and more indirect jobs while having multiplier effects on economic activities,” Amaechi said.
He also said, “The current state of the railway is an indication of the serious neglect of this important sub-sector occasioned by poor policy initiation and implementation. This has led to the proliferation of privately-owned and operated road haulage services, resulting in unregulated and chaotic situation on the nation’s roads.
“Nigerian Railway Corporation has been effectively reduced to an economically unviable venture dependent on government subvention without any return on the huge investments.
“The movement of petroleum products by rail will be re-introduced in 2016. As you are aware, we have commenced and almost completed the narrow gauge rehabilitation, which will be retained for the movement of cargo.”\
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