Transport Minister conducts test-run of locomotive operating on 70% gas

The Federal Government has conducted a successful test-run of a retrofitted train locomotive operating on a dual ratio of 70 per cent Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and 30 per cent diesel.

The Transport Minister, Senator Sa’id Alkali, who was on the train test-ride from Amina J Mohammed Train Station (Idu) to the Kubwa station, explained that when fully implemented across the existing rail corridors, the process is expected to reduce operational costs vis-a-vis affordable train rides for the public.

“The idea is that by the time you use LNG 70 per cent, the cost of running the loco will drastically reduce. By the time all our locos are retrofitted, certainly, the cost of transportation must drop drastically,” Alkali said.

The Minister had in June toured the Nigeria Railway Corporation Locomotive Workshop at Idu, Abuja to appraise the retrofitting process to ensue an earlier charge for a technical evaluation on the prospects for a successful implementation of a dual-fuel retrofit on the NRC locomotives,

According to the minister, the process is not a conversion but retrofitting of the locomotives on a 70% gas & 30% diesel locomotive engine

He added that Nigeria will be the first in West Africa to implement the technology, stressing that all efforts will go into ensuring the process meets global climate control standards.

The minister revealed that the retrofitted locomotives will first be deployed to the Abuja-Kaduna train corridor after which it will run on other corridors across the country.