The maiden carriage of containers by train from Apapa Seaport in Lagos to Ibadan in Oyo State took place on Tuesday, following the commissioning of the project at the seaport by the Minister of Transportation, Senator Sa’idu Ahmed Alkali.
The movement of containers by train from the seaport was designed to achieve the decongestion of Apapa port and all flyovers in Lagos State that have container trucks littering them.
Immediately after the inauguration, the transportation minister said that movement of freight containers by train to Ibadan will begin with only one rail line, while additional two rail lines will be constructed later.
“The ministry is going to liaise with the Nigerian Customs Service to remove their building so that we lay the two remaining lines up to the end of the seaport and that will enable the train to turn inside the port so that they will get out of the port to Ibadan respectively,” Alkali said.
He disclosed that there will be three trips in a day, stressing: “So when you multiply thirty by three we have up to 90 containers per day. As it’s now, by the time we fix the remaining two lines which means you have three times three times three, so in a day, we will be able to decongest Apapa port with 270 containers.”
The Managing Director of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Fidet Okhria, while making remarks during the commissioning declared, “30 wagons have been loaded for taking off today. That’s why we are here today to give privilege to the minister to commission this day the freight movement from APTM Terminal.
“We have facility to move four trips; we have to start with three per day.”
