The Minister of Transportation ,Senator Said Alkali, has assured that the retrofitting of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Locomotive engines- which use 70 per cent Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and 30 per cent Diesel, will bring down the cost of transportation and assist in reducing the inflation rate in the country.
The Minister stated this at Idu Train Station in the presence of the Ministry’s Directors and engineers who have been working with the engineers of a private company , De-Sadel led by its Chief Executive Officer, Samuel Uko, to test-run the retrofitted train locomotive engine at Kubwa, noting that the transportation sector is the pulse for gauging the nation’s economy.
The Minister of Transportation, had also on Thursday, 19th September, 2024, at the Amina J. Mohammed Train station (Idu train Station) of the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor showcased a successful test-run of a retrofitted train locomotive operating on a dual ratio of 70% LNG and 30% Diesel, aiming to reduce operational costs up to 60 percent.
The Transportation Minister who embarked on a train ride from the Idu Train Station to the Kubwa Train Station expressed satisfaction with the successful test-run, saying: “this feat is a step towards reducing the cost of transportation and making the cost of train rides affordable to the general public.
Explaining the retrofitting process, Alkali stated that the locomotive was using diesel 100% before now, but with this process, the loco will now use LNG 70% and diesel 30%.
Speaking further, the Minister disclosed that 100% conversion to LNG is not achievable as the locomotive engine is a heavy engine. He also noted that the engine was manufactured to run on diesel, and it is not possible technically to convert it to CNG or LNG 100%.
On ensuring the rollout of the retrofitting across all the locomotives operating along existing rail corridors, Alkali said there was the need to first of all look at the extant laws to see how that can be allowed, hence the presence of representatives from the Infrastructure Concession Regulatory Commission (ICRC), Transport Ministry and the Nigeria Railway Corporation.
He noted that with this process, the ministry will now write to ICRC to enable them to vet the submission as this will enable the ministry to approach the Federal Executive Council (FEC) for approval.
Speaking also at the test-run event , the Managing Director, De-Sadel Consortium, Samuel Uko noted that this is the first locomotive in African continent to be tested with LNG, saying if not for the pro-activeness of the ministry and the minister, this would never have been possible.
