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Lagos to Ibadan rail: proof of pudding is in the eating
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ICYMI: Good, ugly experiences on new Lagos-Ibadan train service Reporter’s diary
Published 13 December 2020
On Monday, the Nigerian Railway Corporation commenced operations for the Lagos-Ibadan railway, a double-track standard gauge rail covering a distance of 156km in two hours and 40 minutes. JESUSEGUN ALAGBE took a return trip on the train during the week and shares his experience
Curious to take my first-ever train ride in Nigeria, I started researching online on Monday how to book a ticket and where to board the newly-deployed Diesel Multiple Unit, a multiple-unit train powered by onboard diesel engines, from Lagos to Ibadan.
This was some hours after news spread that the Nigerian Railway Corporation had commenced operations for the Lagos-Ibadan railway, a standard gauge rail covering a distance of 156km.
Nigerians are gradually being reintroduced to rail transport following the determination of the Federal Government to rebuild the country’s rail network and even construct new ones. Although past administrations since the restoration of democracy had attempted to revive Nigeria’s railways, whose decline symbolised the rot in the country’s infrastructure, President Muhammadu Buhari has set his administration apart from its predecessors with its achievements in the sector so far. It made railway modernisation its cardinal project and has not relented ever since. In 2018 the President projected that by the end of 2021, the country would have a standard gauge railway across the main North-South trading route.
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The commercial activities of the Lagos-Ibadan Rail Line struggled to a start on Monday. But its speed is being delayed by controversy over ‘elitist’ charges and concern about its commercial viability. There is also skepticism regarding its capacity to generate enough income to repay more than $1.5 billion in debt incurred on the project. x
This week’s inaugural commercial trip only amplified the viability question. It turned out that only one of the several thousands of Nigerians that daily ply the Ibadan-Lagos route was willing and able to buy a seat (at the cost range of N3, 000 and N6, 000) for the 100-kilometer trip in the hundreds-capacity passenger train.
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