Victor Ezeja
Following the federal government’s inauguration of cargo movement on the Single-Gauge Rail (SGR) from Lagos to Ibadan in September, the first container train to ply the Lagos-Ibadan railway has carried out the freight from Apapa port to Oyo State within two and a half hours.
The China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), which built the rail project, announced the development in a statement published on its website on Thursday, disclosing that the container goods train delivered 30 forty-foot containers to the capital of Oyo State, Ibadan.
Prime Business Africa reports that the container train is the first cargo locomotive of containers to arrive Ibadan after the cement goods train began running on the 4th of July. The company reports that ahead of the inaugural freight, the train moved from the Ebute Metta station to Apapa for the launch, before proceeding to Ibadan over the 157-kilometer rail track.
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According to the statement: “The first container freight train of the Lagos-Ibadan railway, built by CCECC, has set off from Apapa Port in Lagos, Nigeria.
“This train is the first container freight train after the cement freight train started operating on July 4th.
“It departed from Apapa Port and carried a total of 30 40-foot containers, arriving at Ibadan station in just two and a half hours.
“The Nigerian Railway Corporation plans to operate one pair of container trains daily and gradually increase the number of trains as the demand grows, improving the railway transportation system behind Lagos Port.”
