In Nigeria, a new Chinese-built train is picking up the tension

The train travels at a majestic speed, taking over two and a half hours to travel just over 150 kilometers (90 miles) of countryside in southern Nigeria.

But the nascent service is developing a fan club among travelers exhausted by the country’s notoriously strangled, chaotic and dangerous roads.

The $ 1.6 billion (€ 1.34 billion) Chinese link between Nigeria’s economic hub, Lagos and Ibadan, the capital of the southwest region, began partial operations last December.

Among his supporters is Nobel Prize winner Wole Soyinka.

“This is my sixth trip,” the playwright told AFP, as the whistle sounded for the 156-kilometer (97-mile) journey.

He recalled the 1960s and 1970s when the train was king.

“We grew up to see a working railway in Nigeria,” Soyinka said on board the train. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP)

“We grew up to see a working railway in Nigeria,” said Soyinka, who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1986, the first Nigerian to be so honored.

At that time, the railroad was the primary means of transporting people and goods across the country until, like elsewhere, it became the country’s cousin to the car and began to decline.

An hour after the start of the trip, the train made a five-minute stop at Abeokuta, where Soyinka has a country house – the station is named after him.

He and a few other passengers disembarked and a handful of commuters boarded for the remainder of the trip to Ibadan.

Nigeria, Africa’s most populous nation of 200 million people, continues to revive its railways, despite years of frustrating delays.

In July 2016, President Muhammadu Buhari inaugurated a 187-kilometer line between the northern city of Kaduna and the capital Abuja.

Vice President Yemi Osinbajo reported the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan line in March 2017 while he was acting president.

The train takes the tension

Cars are fitted with 10-inch (25-centimeter) ceiling-mounted TV screens and window seats have electrical outlets and two USB ports, while the toilets are clean and well-equipped and the crew attentive.

In business class, the train’s comfortable seats are in rows of four separated by a spacious aisle, with overhead luggage compartments.

“The train is comfortable, reliable and safer,” said university professor Otonye Ayodele.

“It saves time and avoids the agony of crossing the famous Lagos-Ibadan dead end,” she said, taking a laptop out of her bag.

Soyinka thought the new line could also be “essential” in alleviating Nigeria’s chronic security concerns.

Cattle could be transported to pasture by rail to prevent violence between farmers and semi-nomadic herders, which is often triggered when animals trample crops, he suggested.

Lagos banker and novice Adebimpe Kareem was enthusiastic: “It’s like being on a train in London or Paris.”

Comfort: Experienced travelers have drawn parallels with trains in Europe. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP)

Kolawole Akinbola, who had just arrived from Germany, was also very complimentary.

“This train is spacious, air conditioned, comfortable. I hope Nigeria will maintain its quality.”

But many criticize its speed – just 50 kilometers (30 miles) per hour – which means it takes two hours and 40 minutes for the trip.

However, it compares favorably to the car. Traveling by road should in theory take a maximum of an hour and a half, but the journey often takes six hours due to traffic jams and construction work.

Others lament the high train fares in a country where most people live on less than $ 2 a day, the lack of a restaurant on board, and the lack of one service per day.

160 km / h target –

“We are still operating basic services due to ongoing construction work on the tracks and stations,” said Jerry Oche, head of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

When fully operational, he said, the frequency of the train will increase – and its speed will reach 160 km / h.

Hostesses arrive on board the train. The nascent service currently only operates once a day – the aim is to increase the frequency and increase the speed to 160 km / h. By PIUS UTOMI EKPEI (AFP)

He said the train would continue to limit passenger numbers to well below its capacity of around 600 due to the Covid pandemic.

The first class fare is 6,000 naira ($ 16/13 euros), 5,000 naira in business class and 2,500 naira in economy class – fares which Oche said were “reasonable and fair”.

Muda Yusuf, head of the Lagos Chamber of Commerce and Industry, hoped the line, built by the China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), would boost trade and reduce traffic jams and highway crime.

“It will also lead to massive investments in real estate and real estate around its corridors,” he predicted.

Locals have already spoken about rising real estate costs in Moniya and the surrounding area, the Ibadan district where the train station is located.

Yusuf said extending the line to the port of Lagos would help decongest the facility and reduce transportation costs.

But, he said, rail projects still faced delays due to lack of funds and insecurity.