The Minister of Transportation, Sa’idu Alkali, said that the government has begun the conversion of railway locomotive engines from diesel to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).
Saidu, who spoke on Monday at Idu National Railway Station Abuja, said that the government intends to drastically reduce the cost of maintenance as well as maintain a clean environment against carbon emissions.
His words: “We have come to assess what we have been putting up for the last month and to interface with the engineers to further analyze the possibility of converting our locomotives from diesel to gas.
“So far, we have interacted with the engineers, and the process has reached the advanced stage; the engine is to be test-run, and I can tell you that this is the first of its kind in the whole of the African continent.”
Senator Alkali said that the engine is going to work on 30 per cent of diesel and 70 per cent on gas.
This, he said, indicates that at the time the driver starts the engine, it uses diesel, but when it is fully engaged, it then automatically switches over to gas for the rest of the journey.
The Minister also informed that the target is to bring down the cost of maintenance to about sixty to seventy per cent as well as control carbon emissions, because that is the only way to control local environmental hazards.
He revealed that the test run would begin from Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor, noting that “this has become necessary because the nitro fitting workshop will be taking place in Abuja, designed to aid the test run process beginning on June 11, after which the same can be applied to other corridors across the country.”
