Ibadan-Lagos Railway Mass Transit Begins, Awaiting PMB Commissioning in 2021

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As it is public knowledge that President Muhammadu Buhari is set to formally commission the revamped Lagos- Ibadan railway mass transit in January 2021, the commercial test run of the route begins today, Monday 7th December 2020.

According to the management of Nigerian Railways Corporation, the scheme started with just one return trip daily. The train will be taking off from Ibadan at 8 am daily as it did today, and returned from Lagos by 4 pm, to the ancient city of Ibadan.

In today’s trip, train travel at the speed of between 30km-40km per hour. Hence when it took off from Ibadan at 08.00hours, it arrived Abeokuta 08.58hours and departed 09.03hours. It finally arrived safely at Ebute-Metta, in Lagos at 10.04hours. At 16.00hours, the return trip left Ebute-Metta for Ibadan.

It was also revealed that the speed and capacity of the train will gradually increase with time. The management also reminded Nigerians that construction work is yet to be concluded as train stations on the route are yet to be completed with the necessary convenience for passengers and staff alike.

The speed and the capacity of the train are also said would take a while to assume their maximum. Part of the delay is the penchant for some who have turned portions of the rail line to markets where their merchandises are displayed and sadly, people thronged the rail line and shop mostly for their domestic needs.

Therefore, Until the fencing of such areas { such as Ikeja along the road, Agege Pen Cinema axis, among others} are completed with necessary safety and security measures, the train will not run on its maximum speed.

It can be recalled that last Thursday, 3rd December 2020, in Abuja, at the inauguration of the recently elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration, CITA, Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Chibuike Amaechi, described President Muhammadu Buhari, as “a committed reformer who is determined to change the face of transportation in the country”.

The Minister said President Buhari was ready for the Lagos-Ibadan railway commissioning. He further said that the transport sector was moving into a new era of professionalism that was set to usher in seamless intermodal transportation in Nigeria.

Amaechi enthused at the CITA event thus, “I just got the mandate from President Buhari that he would commission the Lagos-Ibadan railway in January 2021”

He, however, added a caveat, “they should have been operating (test runs) even before that time. I also have approved the cost of transportation by rail from Lagos to Ibadan. We just transferred the cost, like that of Kaduna, which we think is quite fair”, he said