Lagos-Ibadan rail: FG, three states set to replace level crossings with over/underpasses

The Federal Government says it has reached an agreement with three state governments to jointly build standard railroad underpasses and underpasses at level crossings points along the new Lagos-Ibadan railway to avoid any collision with road users during train movement.

Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, gave the indication at Moniya Railway Station of the standard gauge railway, while speaking with journalists, adding that the new line would commence full commercial operation soon.

He also said all communities displaced or adversely affected in some other way by the $1.5bn railway project would be fixed and their normal life restored before leaving the project site.

The minister said the construction of befitting railroad underpasses/overpasses along the new line had become imperative in view of the rise in the rate of avoidable accidents being recorded at the level crossing points with the return of more train services to the route.

Amaechi, who was on a train inspection tour of the project from Lagos to Ibadan, said meetings had been held with governments of Lagos, Ogun and Oyo states and agreements reached on how to speed up the underpass/overpass construction.

“If we don’t provide these facilities, human being will continue to use the track,” Amaechi said.

According to him, everyone has been assigned their section of work to be done.

“The Federal Government will have to lead the way in the execution of our portion of work,” he said.

Although the minister did not give details about the timeline and cost of the facilities, the Nigerian Railway Corporation has said the facility would be construction in a way that there would be no contact between the fast train and road users including motorists and pedestrians.

Managing Director of the corporation specifically Fidet Okhiria, said, “The policy is that there should be no physical level crossing; it should be either overpasses or underpasses.”

Meanwhile, the minister also assured all communities adversely affected by the railway development project that the government would not abandon them to their fate.

He said every community that had been cut off from their neighbours or land area improperly tampered with would be restored, adding that a team had been mandated to compile a list of those communities with a view to ensuring that no one would excluded or be left unattended to.

Amaechi said, “We have in the course of constructing this rail line elevated the track. There are communities along this line whose life has been disrupted. For some of them, erosion has set in; they can’t cross to the other communities.

“We are being unfair to them because they gave us all the cooperation we needed. It is not good to visit them with what was not there before. It is for the engineers to take a study village by village of what impact our rail line has caused to the communities.”