The 2nd modern railway has begun construction in Nigeria.

The 2nd modern railway has begun construction in Nigeria.

       As the largest economic entity in Africa, the traffic conditions in Nigeria is one of the typical representatives in Africa. Highway and railway are obsolete and backward, the aircraft is a long-distance and more effective means of transportation. Most of the Nigerian people can only go out by choosing road trips because they can't afford the expensive ticket. It’s very difficult to maintain the highway, and there are frequent traffic accidents happened.

       The figures collected by Federal Road Traffic Safety Bureau of Nigeria show that there are nearly 80 thousand road traffic accidents and victims n casualties reached more than 5 million, among which Lagos and Kano are the heavy disaster areas of road traffic accidents from 2013 to 2015 year, ranks the 2nd and 3rd throughout the Nigeria.

       Hariu, a businessman engaged in selling furs n leather goods, told reporters that it takes about 1200 kilo meters from Lagos to Kano, there are only 3 trains a week, it takes 31 hours for one way to go with an averaged speed 45 kilo meters per hour, in addition, there are numerous stops at the midway, the train is usually overcrowded and passengers are exhausted for one trip.

       Most businessmen can only carry goods through the bus, which not only increases the risk of freight transportation, but also the costs are more than doubled.

       The China-Africa Cooperation Forum Beijing Summit in 2006 provided great opportunities for the construction of a modernized railway in Nigeria, under the advocacy of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, the Ministry of transportation of Nigeria and the CCECC (China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation) signed the business contract of modernization construction project from Lagos to Kano Railway (LA KA railway). The project starts from Lagos - the largest city, economic center in the south, pass through the Capital - Abuja, to Kano in the north - a place of strategic importance, total length of the track is 1315 kilo meters, which is the largest overseas contracting project in China at that time. 

       Last July, Nigeria's President Buhari attended the celebration of completion ceremony of LA KA railway project, which remarks the success of the 1st segment of the LA KA Railway project and set up a bench-marking for the construction of the modern network construction of the Nigerian National Railway, opens a brand-new page for the construction of the Nigerian modernized railway.

       Below pictures are the workers/staffs from Qufu Juli Railway Engineering Co., Ltd. started the construction site of the second modern railway in Nigeria.