President Buhari to inaugurate Lagos-Ibadan railway in January 2021

• Passengers to pay between N3000 to N6000

President Muhammadu Buhari will inaugurate the Lagos-Ibadan railway in January, next year, according to the Minister of Transportation, Chibuike Amaechi.

Amaechi, who dropped the hint in Abuja during the inauguration of recently elected members of the Chartered Institute of Transport Administration of Nigeria (CIoTA), said passengers on the train service were expected to pay between N3,000 and N6,000.

The minister said the government would adopt the Abuja-Kaduna ticketing structure in the Lagos-Ibadan railway, stressing that it would have three classifications- Economy N3,000, Business N5,000 and First Class N6,000.

Amaechi said “I have received the mandate of President Muhammadu Buhari to inaugurate the Lagos/Ibadan rail project by January 2021 which will make Nigerians see what the standard gauge railway is like.

“Today (yesterday) I approved the charges on passengers from Lagos to Ibadan; we just transferred what we charge from Abuja to Kaduna.

“We charge N3,000 per Economy seat, N5,000 for Business class, and N6,000 for First class, the same is applicable to Lagos to Ibadan.

“It should have started running by now before Mr. President inaugurates it by January.”

Gentechnews gathered that the 156km Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line extends to Apapa seaports to assist in getting rid of that axis as well as the Lagos-Ibadan Expressway of goods-laden trucks.

According to the company building the $1.5bn scheme, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC),  it completed track-laying on the 156km project in March this year.