The pressure Nigerian roads take from heavy vehicular movement all year round is the main trigger of the consequent dilapidation of the roads.The bad state of the roads has also created additional challenge to distribution of farm products and finished goods. As a matter of fact, the worsening gridlock of traffic jams on the roads simply highlights the overwhelming need to invest in more efficient, reliable, safe and cheap means of transportation.With the upcoming of the Nigerian Railway Corporation, moving huge quantity of goods from one part of the country over a long distance without traffic gridlock occasioned by bad roads, is fast becoming a reality. Media reports on the resumption of freight train services a couple of weeks ago are also pointing to this fact. For instance, it was reported that Nigerian Railway Corporation has started the haulage of 750 metric tons of cement from the Ewekoro Lafarge WAPCO Cement company to Ibadan enroute Osogbo and Ilorin. In all, 2700 metric tons are expected to be hauled weekly before the end of this month, with the prospect of doubling the capacity to over 5000 metric tons on completion of the Jebba to Kano stretch of railway track.Furthermore, it is also expected on weekly basis that train with 20 wagons will haul 600 tons of cement from Ewekoro to Ibadan and an additional 600 tons to Ilorin on a weekly basis, therefore totalling 2400 tons per week. Since a lorryload of trailer can only carry 30 tons, 25 full load of trailers will be required to move this large quantity of goods which the coaches moved at once.With about 50 trailers being removed from our roads on weekly basis, it is obvious that train transport will definitely take off the heat and pressure off our roads. This land mark development happened more than 20 years ago during those good old days of the Nigerian Railway Corporation before the organisation nosedived to its negative points.With the assurance that in the next few weeks cement haulage will be extended to all major cities along the western axis up to Ilorin with a total capacity of 2,700 metric tons per week, an equivalent of 81 trailers on the road with all its adverse consequences and safety challenges, there is no doubt that the nightmare, congestion and heavy vehicular movement on the Lagos/Ibadan expressway will gradually subside. Given the conditions of our roads, it is becoming safer, cheaper and more convenient to move large quantity of goods over a wide distance where there will be no road traffic accident or crash, hold up or gridlock as has been witnessed severally on the notorious Lagos /Ibadan expressway and other traffic flash points across the country. This is in fact the beginning of the decongestion of the failed Lagos /Ibadan expressway.Now that the rehabilitation rail track along the western axis has been completed, thus signaling the commencement of railway activities, it is hoped that rail transportation of cement will help to bring down the high rocketed price of cement in order to make it affordable to majority of Nigerians who are eager to see the success of government intervention in this regard.Since it is a known fact that rail transport is very crucial and indispensable to any nation's economy, more so, as it has no rival in the volume people and goods it could convey from one point to another, there is no doubt that the effective and efficient distribution network by rail will boost commerce and the economy while it will also save our roads from total collapse.The Federal Government's huge investment in this sector is in the right direction as rail transport is indeed one of the critical strands of the nation's economy due to its multiplier effect on other sectors and its tendency for the overall transformation of the economy of the country. The journey to the once lost glory of the 112 years old Nigerian Railway Corporation for it to regain its pre-eminence position as leader in competitive world of transportation started in 2009 with the award of contract for the rehabilitation of its track to the Chinese construction giant, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation to rehabilitate train tracks across the country as well as purchase of new locomotive engines and wagons.
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