Minister of Transport, Rotimi Amaechi, has said that the
Abuja-Kaduna rail line cannot run faster than 90 kilometres per hour because
the ministry does not want the trains killing cows that pass through the rails
while seeking pastures to graze on.
Amaechi said this when he spoke at the 24th Nigerian
Economic Summit organized by the Ministry of Budget & National Plannng at
the Transcorp Hilton, Abuja on Monday 22, October 2018.
The minister at the forum, highlighted the local problems
being faced by the Nigerian railway system. He said Nigeria has more than
enough to transport via rail, before stating restrictions caused by cows.
“The reason why we wat to go back to narrow gauge is because
between Lagos and Kano, we have 30 million tonnes of cargo. Even if you do
three rail lines, it cannot be enough. It took us 14 days to move coaches from
Lagos to Abuja; everyday we go and ask, how far, they say we are near Ogun
state… 14 days. But if it were rail, the
same day, it will get to Abuja. The kind of construction we are doing is 120
kilometres per hour (Km/h), it is a speed train.
“We are doing 90km/h with Abuja to Kaduna. The reason we are
doing 90km/h is because there are cows everywhere, and we don’t want to kill
cows. The other day they tried 100 and they killed how many cows, and they said
‘you people should replace the cows you killed. From that day, I have said let
us maintain the 90km/h; at 120km/h you get to Kaduna in one hour. You can work
in Kaduna and live in Abuja. It was initially one, but now, we have done four
locomotives with 14 coaches'' he said
