After decades of comatose, the railway infrastructure in Apapa Port is back to life, as the Nigeria Railway Corporation will on Friday begin haulage of containerised cargoes from the Apapa Port to the North.
The corporation’s managing director and chief executive, Mr. Adeseyi Sijuwade, also said the corporation had expanded capacity in view of the new cargo service, which included acquisition of four 1,800 horse power locomotives and a hundred-ton telescopic crane.
He said the new service was in line with the new NRC strategy of steadily and continuously increasing its sphere of operations.
The movement of container freights from APM terminal in Apapa Port to Inland Container Nigeria Ltd (ICNL) depots in Kaduna and Kano is expected to start with 20 wagons carrying 20 to 40 containers to be moved per trip and making three trips a week.
Sijuwade said, “The commencement of the container traffic will, no doubt, help in decongesting the ports as well as help in facilitating the establishment and use of Inland Container Depots (ICDs) along the track corridors.
“The container traffic is a strategy demonstrating the carriage ability and readiness of the Corporation to further enhance the development of the nation’s economy and to enter into partnership with organisations that require the services of the Corporation.”
He added, “Single train haulage of 20 containers is equivalent to 20 trailers or 40 trucks on the road and this goes a long way to improve the economic, health, safety and environmental sustainability of the nation.”
The Corporation will also on Friday unveil its newly acquired assets which include four 1800HP locomotives and two 100-ton telescopic cranes.
The railway corporation under the current administration has made landmark progress, such as commencement of train services from Lagos to Kano after decades of absence of service.
The corporation enhanced its passenger carriage capacity recently by flagging off the third weekly Lagos – Kano intercity passenger train and has been maintaining steady increase in its goods and passenger train services.
© anu for Royal Times of Nigeria Newspaper, 2013. |
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