-Sam Philip
Nigerians who use rail transportation may likely experience about 60 percent slash in train fares as the locomotives would be retrofitted from diesel to liquified natural gas-powered.
The country’s Minister of Transportation, Senator Said Alkali disclosed on Thursday that the retrofitting of the locomotives had been completed.
Speaking at Idu Railway Station while conducting a test drive of one of the trains in Abuja, the Minister said the trains are now running on 70 percent LNG and 30 percent diesel.
The Minister said: “We are doing is that we want to cut cost.
“When you look at the 70 percent component of the LNG, as against the 70 percent that was used on diesel, certainly the cost of using LNG will be drastically reduced to about 60 percent.
“The locomotives were using diesel 100 percent. By retrofitting, we are going to use LNG 70 percent and diesel 30 percent. That is what we mean by retrofitting.
“The idea is by the time you use LNG 70 person, the cost of running the locomotives will drastically be reduced. I am assuring Nigerians that we are going to enforce that. By the time all our locomotives are retrofitted, certainly the cost of transportation must drop drastically.”