The Minister of Transportation, Saidu Alkali, expressed his satisfaction with the test run in a statement sent by the ministry on Friday.
Alkali said, “This feat is a step towards reducing the cost of transportation and making the cost of train rides affordable to the general public.”
At the Amina J. Mohammed Train Station (Idu Train Station) in Abuja, the Minister led the demonstration of the locomotive’s capabilities along the Abuja-Kaduna rail corridor.
The newly retrofitted locomotives, which run on a 70-cent Liquefied Natural Gas and 30 per cent diesel mix, were test-run by the Federal Ministry of Transportation, marking a significant step in reducing operational expenses and promoting cleaner energy in Nigeria’s rail transport system.
Alkali explained the upgrading process, noting that before the modification, the locomotive ran entirely on diesel.
The upgrade now allows it to operate primarily on LNG, with diesel making up just 30 per cent of its fuel consumption.
Despite this success, the Minister acknowledged that a 100 per cent LNG conversion was not technically feasible due to the locomotive’s heavy-duty engine, which was originally designed to run on diesel. “It is not possible technically to convert it to CNG or LNG 100 per cent,” Alkali stated.
Managing Director of De-Sadel Consortium, Samuel Uko, praised the achievement, noting that this was the first locomotive in Africa to operate using LNG.