There are indications that the Federal Government will any moment from now commence the use of the recently- acquired pressurized oil tank wagons for haulage of petroleum products across the country, even as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said that it is presently under great demand from fuel marketers to commence the use of the tanks.
There are indications that the Federal Government will any moment from now commence the use of the recently- acquired pressurized oil tank wagons for haulage of petroleum products across the country, even as the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has said that it is presently under great demand from fuel marketers to commence the use of the tanks.
Speaking with Shipping Position Daily in Lagos last week, an official of the Public Relations Department of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Mr. Segun Esan explained that petroleum marketers are anxious to see the tanks in operation because it will further ease the pressure of petroleum tankers on Nigerian roads.
He explained that the only thing delaying the commencement of the use of the tanks is the challenges encountered during the rehabilitation of the rail tracks at Akere in Minna, Niger State.
According to him, the rail tracks had been flooded and this had initially made it difficult to continue with the rehabilitation.
“The only thing that has been delaying the commencement is the rehabilitation of our tracks at Akere in Niger State, but now that everything is free for traffic, we will start the use for haulage of petroleum products”.
Esan said that everything has been rectified and that works have reached an advanced stage, even as he assured petroleum marketers of respite as the tanks will start operating from the middle of September 2012.
“As I am talking to you, we have a great demand from petroleum marketers in Nigeria for us to commence the use of the wagons, but I can assure you that God willing, between now and the middle of September, you will see them operating”, he assured.
He however said that in order to ensure the successful operation of the tank wagons, there is need for the interested petroleum marketers to ensure that they construct rail lines within their tank farms in order to ensure smooth transfer.
“The haulage depends greatly on the accessibility of the tank farms to rail lines” he said.
Esan also told our correspondent of the plans by the corporation to acquire 20 additional tank wagons to complement the ones that were commissioned in Lagos early this year.
He also said that the corporation is embarking on refurbishing the old tank wagons that were formally in use in order to enable the long haulage of petroleum products throughout the country.
Speaking further, he said that, “no railway tank wagon is old, whenever you need them all you have to do is to refurbish them and commence using it”.
“We have just concluded the roll-out of refurbished tanks that we have in the north and the next thing we want to do is to start refurbishing the ones we have around the south west from Lagos to Ibadan and to Ilorin” he said.
Discussion about this post