The Minister of Transportation, Sen. Sa’idu Alkali, has said that the freight wagon haulage on the narrow gauge from Lagos to Kano will begin in the next three months.
Alkali made the disclosure during his visit to Kajola Wagon Assembly Plant in Ogun, on Tuesday.
He said the railway corporation was using standard gauge to carry cargo from Lagos to Ibadan, but will begin the operation from Apapa to Kano in three months’ time.
Alkali said that the Federal Government had already fixed the narrow gauge from Lagos to Kano, and will now get some locomotives and wagons to take containers from Apapa and move them to Kano
“Once we evacuate containers from Lagos, we will use the narrow gauge to move them to Kano,” Alkali said.
After visiting some of the railway facilities, the Minister directed the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, to look into the cleanliness of the coaches, to enhance patronage on railways.
Okhiria, on his part, said that the Nigerian Shippers’ Council, being the port economic regulator, and the former Minister of Transportation had set up a ministerial committee headed by the former Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transportation to look into freight charges.
He said that the purpose of the committee was to ensure smooth operation of freight rail.
“The impact on NRC is that the terminals are charging 60, 000 per containers for moving the container to the wagon freight, which is still higher than the movement on trucks, and the Shippers’ Council is working on that.
” The terminal charges are high because of the double handling; presently, moving cargo by rail is more expensive than road but is faster.
“We are looking to see how we can do it, we have minimum operational cost, and we don’t need to go and borrow money to buy diesel, that is why we are starting the freight rail movement of cargo handling now,” Okhiria said.
He said that NRC had begun the freight rail movement from the port pending when they receive order from the Minister to reduce charges.
Okhiria said that NRC was operating the rail freight with the narrow gauge before now, but stopped due to security issues.
He said the corporation would use a month to repair all the vandalised tracks on the narrow gauge, adding that the management would assemble all the wagons and service them before putting them on track.
Okhira said that NRC had about 120 narrow gauge wagons, as the Federal Government had been proactive and the corporation had placed order through the China Civil Engineering Construction Company.
——-Flags-off freight Lagos-Ibadan haulage
Meanwhile, the Minister has said that the inauguration of the wagon freight train from Apapa Ports to Ibadan would move 90 container cargoes on daily basis.
Alkali made the disclosure during the inauguration of the wagon freight train haulage at APM Terminal, Apapa, in Lagos on Tuesday.
He said that the freight train for moving cargo would decongest the ports and would also save shippers from accumulation of demurrages.
Alkali said that the wagon would pass through one track, adding that the remaining two tracks would start to function after completion.
“The ministry is going to liaise with the Minister of Finance and the Customs, concerning the demolition of the scanning centre which is affecting the completion of the remaining tracks into the ports.
“After laying the two remaining tracks, the cargoes will leave the ports respectively and the two remaining lines will enter the ports,” Alkali said.
The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mr Fidet Okhiria, said the wagon would carry 30 freights of containerised cargo on a trip from Lagos to Ibadan.
Okhiria said that the Minister of Transportation had inaugurated the freight movement of cargoes to Papalanto and Ibadan.
“We have facilities to move four trips daily but we are starting with three trips, making 90 of the 40ft containers to move out of the ports per day.
“What we are using now is temporary transitional line, we are making headway to ensure the building gives way to make us have the three lines that are slated for this terminal.
“We are ensuring that the operation starts, so that we don’t give room for vandalisation, when the tracks are not in use then it is vulnerable to attack,” Okhiria said.
He said that if the tracks were used frequently that people would see the value and respect the tracks.
The Managing Director, Bueno Logistics, Mr Jetson Nwankwo, said that he had been working to ensure that the railway was optimally utilised and to decongest the roads.
“Currently we are partnering with the Nigerian Railway Corporation and the terminal operators to help Lagos to decongest its roads from container trucks.
“The new standard gauge line that has entered APM Terminal is a big deal, it will be able to carry at least 60 containers at a go out of Apapa complex, and if we do that everyday, you will not see containers on the bridges.
“The deal is to move the containers from Apapa Port complex to Moniya in Ibadan, where we have a very big freight terminal.
” Any truck coming to pick the truck will go to Moniya that will really decongest Lagos,” Nwankwo said.
