The Nigerian Federal Ministry of Transport has restated its commitment to finish construction of the new railway from the capital Abuja to Kaduna by December 2014. Official reports say the project is currently 80% complete.

Rehabilitation of the 1,124km western line from Lagos to Kano) was completed in December 2012. According to the Lagos Guardian, work on the 1,657km Eastern line (Port Harcourt to Maiduguri) “is progressing steadily with the Port Harcourt-Jos section including the branch line from Kafanchan to Kaduna to be completed by August 2014″.

All these lines use 1,067mm gauge. However, the new Abuja-Kaduna section is being constructed to 1,435mm gauge, as is a new 180km railway from Lagos to Ibadan. No information has been released about the acquisition of locomotives and rolling stock for these lines and whether sufficient will be available to work the Abuja railway when it is finished.

Source: www.railwaysafrica.com, 19 August 2014

Photo: Nigerian River Class near Port Harcourt 1974 by 8474tim at en.wikipedia