Chinese enterprises undertook to build the Rye Railway officially opened for operation
At 11:28 on June 10th, local time, with a whistle buzzing, Nigerian President Buhari waved the flag, and the train slowly left the Mobolaji Johnson Railway Station in the Ebutmeta area of Lagos. Proceed to the port of Apapa, the largest port in Nepal.
After more than 4 years of waiting, Nigeria ushered in West Africa’s first modern double-track standard gauge railway-Lagos-Ibadan Railway (Rye Railway) officially opened for operation, which is the longest double-track standard gauge built in Africa so far railway.
The Rye Railway is the second bid section of the Nigerian Railway Modernization Project undertaken by China Turkey Group. It connects Lagos, the economic center of Nigeria, and Ibadan, an important industrial town in the southwest. The main line is about 157 kilometers long, and there is another 7 kilometers long Azerbaijan. The Papa Port branch railway has realized "port-to-road connectivity".
The project adopts modern railway standards and has a design speed of 150 kilometers per hour, shortening the travel time between Lagos and Ibadan to 2 hours.
At the opening ceremony, Buhari said that the Abuja-Kaduna railway undertaken by China Turkey Group was put into commercial operation in 2016 and has produced good benefits.
The opening of the Rye Railway is another "milestone" of the Nigerian government's revitalization of the railway system, which is of great significance to Nigeria's economic development.
After the Rye Railway is opened and operated, it will not only facilitate people's travel, but also help improve the efficiency of port and inland cargo transportation, and accelerate the upgrading of Nigeria's industrial and economic activities.
Since the start of construction in March 2017, the Rye Railway Project has overcome many difficulties such as the complex construction environment, limited construction resources, and the impact of the new crown pneumonia epidemic, and successfully completed the opening of the railway to traffic.
After the start of railway construction, it has promoted the development of supporting industries such as building materials and engineering construction, and brought a lot of jobs to the local area.
Many vendors set up small stalls near the railway construction site, and the railway line gradually became lively.
The governor of Lagos State Sanuru said that the Rye Railway will fundamentally change the living and working conditions of local people and open channels for urban development and commercial development.
During the peak period of railway construction, the project employs more than 10,000 local employees. Through the organization of centralized training and training by foreign commissioned professional institutions, the professional skills of local employees have been improved, and a group of infrastructure construction talents who can manage and understand technology have been cultivated.
Shaola, a local employee in charge of legal affairs and community coordination, said: "Chinese companies have sincerely helped us by not only organizing technical training, but also sending a group of young engineers to China for further study, which has an important role in the development of Nigeria's national railway industry."
On the running train, the 54-year-old railway policeman Victor said with emotion: “The new car is spacious, clean, cool and comfortable, and it runs fast and stable. I am very honored to be able to perform duties on such a modern railway before retirement.” Most To Victor's happiness, now that the train goes back and forth every day, he can go home every day.
Secretary Sander, Chairman of the Transport Committee of the Federal House of Representatives, said during the ride experience: "Chinese companies are very good and the quality of the project is very high. Thank you for China's strong support to Nigeria's infrastructure construction.
(Our newspaper, Abuja, June 12)
Jiang Xuan, our correspondent in Nigeria