The passenger trains currently running in Lagos, Kano, Kaduna and Jos, were introduced following the supply of 25 new locomotives to the corporation by General Electric to boost railway services in the country.
The Managing Director of the corporation, Mr. Adeseyi Sijuade, who spoke with our correspondent on the telephone on Wednesday, gave the names of the five states that would benefit from the MTT as Enugu, Port Harcourt, Niger, Kwara and Borno.
He said the original plan was to first take the MTT to the six geo-political areas of the country and later extend it to other parts of the country covered by the railway network.
The train operation, he said, would improve as contractors currently handling the rehabilitation of the NRC track, as well as the communication and signal systems completed their assignment.
He also said that the rehabilitation of the Lagos-Kano line was almost completed, adding that only the bridgework required to address the flood challenges at Akeri area in Niger State was being attended to.
Sijuade also said that train services were gradually picking up in areas where rehabilitation work had been completed.
For instance, he said, ”The corporation has so far moved 1.5 million passengers this year and 135,000 tonnes of freight, almost from zero operation in 2009.”
The NRC boss also projected that about 13 million passengers should be travelling by train annually in Nigeria as from 2012 when the rehabilitation of the Port Harcourt- Maiduguri line would have been completed.
He put the completion date of the line at the end of 2011.
He said the tender process for the rehabilitation of the line was near completion, adding that the ”contract will be awarded in January.”
Meanwhile, the Railway District Manager, West, Mr. Rasheed Gbadamosi, on Wednesday said that the commencement of cement haulage between Ewekoro and Ijoko, both in Ogun State, had boosted the operation of the western district of the NRC.
Lafarge WAPCO Cement Company Plc had last week moved 3,600 tonnes of cement by rail from its Ewekoro and Lakatabu plants and promised to convey the same product to places such as Offa, Osogbo, Kaduna, Zaria and Kano in the second phase of the project.
Gbadamosi said that the corporation had dedicated two new locomotive and 15 covered wagons to cement haulage.
He expressed optimism that an inter-city MTT would be introduced between Ilorin and Offa in Kwara State, next year.
Meanwhile, the Federal Road Safety Corps, on Wednesday urged the government to bring back rail system to reduce pressure on Nigerian roads.
The FRSC Zonal Commander, RS2, Mr. Danjuma Garba, told the News Agency of Nigeria that the freight that 10 trailers would carry could be lifted at once by a locomotive.
”If 10 trailers are off our roads daily, risks will be managed, the roads will be saved from wear and tear and we will have less vehicles to control,” Garba said.
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