Federal government has intensified efforts to retrofit Nigerian Railway Corporation locomotives with dual-fuel engines, aiming to reduce operational costs by up to 70% and cut carbon emissions.
During a visit to the Idu workshop in Abuja, minister of transportation, Said Alkali highlighted that Nigeria is the first in Africa to implement this diesel-to-gas conversion. The initial phase will focus on the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor.
In a statement signed by assistant director of press and public relations on behalf of his principal, Muhammad Tahir Zakari, the minister explained that the process, which began last month, has reached an advanced stage.
“If successful, it will significantly reduce maintenance costs and carbon emissions, as the locomotives will primarily use gas, eliminating gas emissions during operation,” he said.
Alkali emphasised that the retrofit will enable the engines to work on a dual-fuel system, with the locomotives running 30 percent on diesel and 70 percent on gas. “When you want to start the locomotive, you use diesel.
But once started, it will switch to gas and keep moving,” he said.
The minister said the progress so far includes interfacing with engineers and preparing for a test run of the retrofitted engines. This test will determine when the system can be fully deployed on commercial routes.
He said, “The retrofit process will begin with the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor, given that the retrofitting workshop is in Abuja. Subsequent phases will extend to all other rail corridors.”
This initiative follows a proposal by the De-Sadel consortium to the Ministry on retrofitting diesel engines to LNG/CNG models, which led to forming a technical evaluation committee to oversee the project.