'40km/h just for test run' -- Lagos-Ibadan trains to move faster by 2020

’40km/h just for test run’ — Lagos-Ibadan trains to move faster by 2020

December 17

15:43 2019

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The Lagos-Ibadan train service may move at a maximum speed of 150kilometres per hour upon completion in April 2020, TheCable understands.

TheCable took a trip on the train on December 5, 2019, where we established that the train was currently being tested at an average speed of 40 kilometres per hour — moving from Iju, Lagos to Ologuneru, Ibadan (a distance of 121 kilometres) in three hours.

As at the time we took the train, it could only take 96 passengers per day on a return trip — but only for the test run.

According to Fidet Okhiria, CEO and MD of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, the trains will be run faster than the current speed.

“After construction, you have to run to stress the track to identify if there are faults on the track before you go full-blown,” he said in a recent interview with Channels TV.

“What we are doing now is for people to feel the track and we interact with them and hear what they say and also to build up before going into the commercial stage.

He added that from January 2020, the train will make two trips a day, with additional coaches for the tracks to feel the full weight of the trains.

READ: REPORTER’S DIARY ON LAGOS-IBADAN TRAIN SERVICE

Rotimi Amaechi, the minister for transportation, had also said the standard gauge locomotives are designed to run at a maximum speed of 150 kilometres per hour.

At maximum speed, the train can cover Iju to Ologuneru in less than one hour.

The rail service between the two cities is expected to have 10 stations from 2020, with a maximum speed of 150 km/h — making this trip in under an hour.

However, considering the Abuja-Kaduna train, it is unlikely for the trains to run at maximum speed. But with a speed of 90 kilometres per hour as operated on Abuja-Kaduna rail line, Lagos to Ibadan will be done in less than 90 minutes.

NRC says from January, the trip from Lagos to Ibadan will be done twice a day, with more coaches.

The stations for 2020 to include Apapa, Agege, Agbado, Iju, Kajola, Papalanto, Omi Adio, Ologuneru, and Moniya. But currently, it takes off at Iju, takes a stop at Abeokuta and terminates at Ologuneru in Ibadan.