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· Nigeria last Monday had thrown open trial operations for the Lagos-Ibadan railway ahead of a January launch. The trial operations were conducted with passengers on board
· The US $1.5 billion railway line runs from Nigeria’s economic hub and most populous city to Ibadan, capital of Oyo state
Nigeria last Monday had thrown open trial operations for the Lagos-Ibadan railway ahead of a January launch. The trial operations were conducted with passengers on board. The train on an experimental trial covered the 156km journey between Ibadan and Lagos double track standard.
The US $1.5 billion railway line runs from Nigeria’s economic hub and most populous city to Ibadan, capital of Oyo state. It was financed by China with Abuja providing counterpart funding. The railway line will cut down the travelling time between the two cities to two hours. On behalf of China, the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCEC) undertook the project. The fare has been fixed between N3,000 (US$8) and N6,000 (US16) for tickets .
The train departs Ibadan for Lagos at 8am daily with a return trip scheduled at 4pm. The stretch between the Lagos-Ibadan expressway is notorious for heavy trucks and traffic gridlocks that can stretch for several kilometres. Nigeria has embarked on a new 2,733km Lagos-Kano standard gauge line. The total cost of the project was valued at US$11.117bn.
