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The Minister of Transportation, Sa’idu Alkali, has revealed that the Federal Government has initiated the process of converting railway locomotive engines from diesel to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
He made this known during an inspection of the retrofitting exercise at Idu train station in Abuja.
Alkali clarified that the engines, originally designed to run on diesel, were being modified to operate on gas.
He also said the conversion process would involve using both diesel and CNG, with the final engine running on 70% gas and 30% diesel.
Alkali highlighted that Nigeria is the first African country to undertake this diesel-to-gas conversion, emphasizing that the locomotive would switch from diesel to gas after starting, enabling it to continue moving efficiently.
"We have engaged with the engineers and the project is well-progressed. We will soon conduct a test run of the engine to decide on the timeline for introducing the CNG locomotives," he said.
He also said: "We anticipate reducing maintenance costs by 60 to 70 per cent. By converting the locomotive to gas, we will effectively control emissions and eliminate carbon emissions altogether."
The minister revealed that the initial phase of the process would focus on the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor, as the conversion workshop is situated in Abuja.
He assured Nigerians that the expansion of this initiative would eventually cover other rail corridors across the country.
The Federal Government has opted for gas as the transitional fuel for the country, with the goal of achieving zero emissions by 2050.
