THE Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) yesterday took delivery of five new standard gauge coaches in its effort to modernise railway operations.
NRC’s Acting Managing Director Mr. Fidet Okhiria received the coaches at the Lagos Port in Apapa.
He said the contract for the supply was awarded by the Federal Government last year.
The delivery includes three 80-passenger capacity standard coaches, one 56-passenger capacity executive coach and one Parcel/Guard Van coach.
Okhiria, who was represented by the Acting Director of Mechanical, Electrical, Signal and Communication, Mr. Kabir Zayyana, said the coaches would be deployed by May on its standard gauge operation between Kaduna and Abuja.
He said: “We have received from our contractor the coaches, which we are going to use to run our standard gauge line from Abuja to Kaduna.
“The ship arrived on March 2, and we started off-loading them since Wednesday, and they will be moved from Lagos Port to Abuja by road.
“We have off-loaded five coaches, comprising of one executive coach which has 56 capacity, three other coaches with 80 passengers capacity and one Guard Van.
“Latest by May, commercial operation on the train will start on that corridor and our passengers should look forward to higher degree of comfort.”
He said the speed train would be operated by the corporation’s workers, stressing that they were well-trained to handle the new stock.
According to him, a locomotive driver can drive both standard and narrow gauges, saying that they would only need training on timing.
Zayyana said the corporation would transport the coaches by road because they could not travel on the existing narrow track.
He said that the coaches were 1437 mm as against 1067 mm of the narrow gauge.
On the NRC’s plan for maintenance of the new stock, the acting director assured Nigerians that the corporation would study the maintenance manual of the coaches.