The District Manager, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr Jerry Oche, says the corporation has re-opened freight wagon operations from Lagos ports to other parts of the country.
Uche disclosed this to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos on Wednesday when the first freight wagon departed Lagos for Zaria in Kaduna State.
According to him, the Corporation ran the first long haul freight wagon after a long period of time.
“The last time we had the long haul freight wagon was before the COVID-19 pandemic, early last year.
“What you are witnessing this afternoon is a movement of the first long train from Lagos District office to Zaria.
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“We have 6,000 industrial pipes on the ground going to Zaria and if we calculate how many pipes per wagon, we will be calculating over 27 trains to transport the pipes.
“It has been long we embark on this kind of journey but we may have to stop when it gets dark,’’ Oche told NAN.
He was optimistic that by Friday or Saturday, due to stop-overs, the wagons should be able to arrive at Zaria.
The manager said that the corporation had already sent two trains, one to Ibadan and the other to Minna.
The manager that the corporation has also begun the Apapa Shuttle for the carriage of consignments from the ports.
He appealed to port users in parts of Nigeria to patronise the NRC with a view to ending gridlocks in the port environment.
He recalled that before the outbreak of COVID-19, the corporation carried 19 wagons of consignments.
This, he said, meant that NRC was able to take 19 trucks off the road.
He added that the train that just left for Zaria, had 16 wagons.