The Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) has said it will expand its Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG)-diesel locomotive technology beyond the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor to other regions of the country.
The Acting Managing Director, Engr. Ben Iloanusi, stated this during a visit by the California State Transport Agency delegation to the Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, in Abuja, according to a statement published on the Ministry of Transportation’s official website.
The statement, which was signed by Olujimi Oyetomi, Director, Press & PR, and seen by New Telegraph yesterday, explained that the initiative aligned with the NRC’s commitment to promoting cleaner, cost-effective, and eco-friendly rail transport solutions.
According to the statement, NRC’s retrofitting programme has enabled locomotive engines to operate using an LNG-Diesel admixture and has reduced diesel consumption by up to 75 per cent while successfully covering a distance of about 200 kilometres between Abuja and Kaduna.
The statement said: “The Acting Managing Director of Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Ben Iloanusi, stated that the NRC had achieved the retrofitting of some of its locomotives and test run these on the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor; the Corporation seeks to introduce this admixture of diesel-Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) technology across existing rail corridors.”
He said the LNG-Diesel locomotive technology was not only clean and environmentally friendly but also cost-efficient.
He assured that The NRC was open to partnerships and collaboration for the full-fledged deployment of this technology nationwide.
The statement further said that the minister had committed to setting up a technical committee to explore collaboration with the California State Transport Agency on transportation development, climate change, and best practices.
According to the statement, the delegation was piloted by the Chairperson of the Nigeria Diaspora Commission, Hon. Abike Dabiri, and led by California’s Secretary of Transportation, Tokunbo Odusakin
