Amaechi says Abuja rail cannot run for 90km/h because there are cows everywhere
Minister of transportation, Amaechi said the Abuja-Kaduna trains runs at 90km/h because they don’t want to kill cows dispersed around the route.
Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has explained that Abuja rail cannot run beyond 90km/h due to the presence of cows disperse around the routes.
Amaechi spoke about the challenges the federal government has had to deal with as it revamps the rail sector of the country.
“The reason why we want to go back to narrow gauge is because, between Lagos and Kano, we have 30 million tonnes of cargo. Even if you do three rail lines, it cannot be enough,” he said.
Cows everywhere
He also highlighted the problems faced by the rail system in the country before stating the challenges posed by cows roaming freely.
“It took us 14 days to move coaches from Lagos to Abuja; every day we go and ask, how far, they say we are near Ogun state… 14 days. But if it were rail, the same day, it will get to Abuja. The kind of construction we are doing is 120 kilometers per hour (Km/h), it is a speed train.
“We are doing 90km/h with Abuja to Kaduna, the reason we are doing 90km/h is because there are cows everywhere, and we don’t want to kill cows. The other day they tried 100 and they killed how many cows, and they said ‘you people should replace the cows you killed,” he added.
Why federal government is subsidising rail transport
The minister also revealed why the federal government is paying N40million to subsidise rail transportation monthly.
He said: “We spend N56 million per locomotive, and we get N16millon. If we increase it, you will start abusing us, ‘we won’t vote for this people’. But you see, it is subsidised, so you big men, the government is subsidising you, that is why you should vote for us because you are sharing the money,”.
“At the end of the day, we lose every month N40million, in fact, it was worse initially because it was N600 per passenger and nearly N1,000 for business class,” he added.
Amaechi expressed his appreciation to passengers (rich and poor) who suggested that the price be increased. He said the government has not been able to break even with subsidised transportation. culled from pulse.ng
