Rail transportation: Plateau gets two locomotives

In its effort to revitalise the railway transportation system, two train locomotives have arrived in Jos, the Plateau State capital.

The two were delivered by the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC).

The arrival of the locomotives is in furtherance to the actualisation of the agreement entered into between the Plateau State government and the NRC to  revitalise the railway system and commence transportation operations in the state.

However, there was an earlier misunderstanding in Maiduguri, the Borno State capital as NRC attempted to relocate some coaches from Maiduguri to Jos for refurbishment and then put into use in Plateau State for the railway transportation operation.

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The relocation attempt of those coaches from Maiduguri led to protests by residents of the city and also the arrest of some of the railway corporation staff by the state government over the allegation that they were illegally moving the railway coaches out of the state.

This has caused some controversy and equally caused an initial hitch in the Plateau-NRC pact.

But the Plateau State government and the NRC then improvised and moved two locomotives to the state from other states.

The Public Relations Officer of NRC, Jos Station, Adamu Abdullahi, told Daily Trust yesterday that the locomotives were brought in from Zaria and Kafanchan, all in Kaduna State, for the train operation.

He said the locomotives have already been positioned on the tracks in Dogon Karfe in Jos, adding that coaches are being expected from other states.

Abdullahi said the coaches to be expected would not be from Borno State as the controversy is yet to be resolved, and that the Borno State government also said they are willing to run the train transportation system.