Rail transport in Nigeria

The Nigerian railways were originally built by the colonial power, Great Britain. The railways were built to the 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) Cape gauge, the same track gauge used in most other British colonies in Africa.

The country has two major Cape-gauge rail lines:

• The Western Line connects Lagos on the Bight of Benin to Nguru in the northern state of Yobe, over a distance of 1,126 kilometers (700 mi).
• The Eastern Line connects Port Harcourt in the Southeast to Maiduguri in the northeastern state of Borno, near the border with Chad.

There are also several branch lines:

• The Linking Line connects Kaduna on the Western Line to Kafanchan on the Eastern Line.
• Ifaw–Ilaro (Western Line), 20 kilometers (12 mi)
• Minna–Baro (Western Line), 150 kilometers (93 mi)
• Zaria–Kaura Namoda (Western Line), 245 kilometers (152 mi).
• Kuru–Jos (Eastern Line), 55 kilometers (34 mi)
• Baro-Kano Railway Station (Northern Line), 200 kilometer (120 mi).

The 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge Bauchi Light Railway operated between Zaria and Bukuru over a distance 143 miles and was opened in stages between 1912 and 1914. In 1927 the ten mile section between Jos and Bukuru was converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) becoming part of the Kafanchan to Jos branch line. The 2ft 6in Zaria - Jos section continued to operate until 1957 when it was abandoned.[1]

There was also the short lived 2ft 6in gauge Wushishi Tramway which connected Wushishi with Zungeru (12 miles) in 1901 and which was extended in 1902 from Wushishi to Bari-Juko (10 miles). It closed circa 1911 with its two Hunslet built 0-6-2T locomotives being transferred to the Bauchi Light Railway.[1]

Mention must also be made of the Lagos Steam Tramway (1902)[2][3] and the Lagos Sanitary Tramway (1906), both of 2ft 6in gauge.[1][2]

There are no railway links with adjacent countries. Nigeria does not use the same track gauge as its neighbours, where the French and German colonial government built metre gauge railway networks. There were plans to establish rail links to Niger through Illela in Sokoto state and Cameroon, but these have not yet been built.

A standard gauge railway connects the national capital of Abuja to the city of Kaduna, an important junction point on the Cape gauge railway network. The 187 km line is the first segment of the planned Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway to be completed.[4] In 2018 the Nigerian government awarded a contract to China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to complete the remaining portions of the line. In June 2020, Rotimi Amaechi, Nigeria's Minister of Transportation, announced that construction had commenced on the Abuja-Kano segment of the line.[5]

The Warri–Itakpe standard gauge line connects the port city of Warri to Itakpe. The 320 km line began test runs in November 2018, but the stations will not be completed until the first quarter of 2019.[6] In July 2020, Minister of Transportation Rotimi Amaechi announced that construction was complete, and passenger and freight operations would begin soon.[7]

The construction of railways in Nigeria started from Lagos Colony to Ibadan in March 1896, by the British government.

The Lagos Government Railway began operations in March 1901 and was extended to Minna in 1911, where it met the Baro–Kano Railway Station that was built by the government of Northern Nigeria between 1907 and 1911.[8] The two lines were amalgamated in 1912 into the Government Department of Railways, the predecessor to the Nigerian Railway Corporation. The railway reached its northeastern terminus of Nguru in 1930.[9]

After coal was discovered at Udi, the Eastern Railway was built to Port Harcourt between 1913 and 1916. This railway was extended to Kaduna via Kafanchan in 1927, connecting the Eastern Railway to the Lagos–Kano Railway.[10] The Eastern Railway was extended to its northeastern terminus of Maiduguri between 1958 and 1964.[9]

Abandoned locomotive.

Years of neglect of both the rolling stock and the right-of-way have seriously reduced the capacity and utility of the system. Couplings of the ABC kind, vacuum brakes and non-roller bearing plain axles are also obsolete. By early 2013, the only operational segment of Nigeria's rail network was between Lagos and Kano. Passenger trains took 31 hours to complete the journey at an average speed of 45 km/h.[11][12]

A project to restore Nigeria's railways has been underway since 2009. The eastern line from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri was restored at a cost of US$427 million by Lingo Nigeria, Eser West Africa, and the China Gezhouba Group.[14]

In order to remedy the poor condition, efficiency, and profitability of the nation's railroads, the government is also seeking to privatize the Nigerian Railway Corporation. Under the privatization plan, the railways will be split into three concessions, each to be awarded for a period of 25–30 years.[15]

In 2019, the Cape gauge railways had only 15 functional locomotives.[16]

In 2006, the government contracted with the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC) to build the Lagos–Kano Standard Gauge Railway.[4] It was later decided to complete the project in segments due to a lack of funds.[4] After many delays, the segment from Abuja to Kaduna (187 km) opened officially on 26 July 2016.[17] The Lagos–Ibadan section began construction in March 2017.[4] The third section will link Kano to Port Harcourt and Lagos.[4]

In 1987, a contract was awarded to build the Central Line, a standard gauge railway to connect the iron ore deposits at Itakpe to the Ajaokuta Steel Mill and the Atlantic Ocean port of Warri. The railway was originally planned for completion in five years, but sporadic funding stretched out its construction period over 30 years.[18] In August 2017, the Minister of Transportation announced that the railway would be completed by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation and Julius Berger.[19] Trial runs began in November 2018,[6] and the railway is expected to be completed after the end of COVID-19.[20] In October 2019, the government signed a $3.9 billion contract with the China Railway Construction Corporation Limited to extend the railway to the national capital of Abuja.[21]