FG begins conversion of rail locomotive engines to CNG

The Minister of Transportation, Sa’idu Alkali, yesterday, disclosed that the government has commenced the conversion of railway locomotive engines from diesel to Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

The minister, who disclosed this during an inspection on the retrofitting exercise at Idu train station, yesterday, in Abuja, disclosed that the locomotive engines will work on 70 per cent diesel and 30 per cent gas if successful.

He explained that the process is currently at an advanced stage, as the engine is designed in such a way that diesel is used to power the engine after which it is switched to gas.

Alkali said: “So far, we have interacted with the engineers and the process is at an advanced stage, and we are going to test run the engine tomorrow. We would then determine when we will begin rolling out the CNG locomotives.”

Speaking on the benefits, Alkali said it will bring down the cost of maintenance by about 60 to 70 per cent, as well as control emissions given that the moment the locomotive moves to gas, there won’t be gas emissions.

He maintained that they are beginning with the Abuja-Kaduna railway corridor, considering that the workshop for the conversion is in Abuja. Alkali also noted that they intend to move to other corridors soon.