NIGERIA: Aspiring new entrant to the rail freight market Traxport Rail Services Ltd has announced the granting of a provisional rail operating and track access licence by state incumbent Nigerian Railway Corp.
This authorises Traxport to operate trains and access infrastructure across the narrow and standard gauge networks, positioning the company to begin developing its plans to offer commercial freight services.
Traxport hopes to enhance freight movement along key economic corridors, reduced heavy lorry traffic, improve supply chain reliability and deploy gas-fuelled locomotive technologies to support national energy transition goals. Its initial focus is on the Lagos – Kano rail corridor, which it said is one of Nigeria’s most important economic routes for industrial supply chains.
Announcing the licence on March 17, Traxport said NRC is making efforts to modernise the rail system and to create frameworks that would enable the private sector to ‘contribute to expanding capacity, improving efficiency and strengthening rail logistics across the country’.
Investors in Traxport include DeWiz Engineering Services Ltd, part of CET Group which has investments in power generation and engineering services and is involved in the development of an LNG plant at Ogbele in Rivers State.
Last year Traxport signed a technical support and investment agreement with Belgium-based international rail operations and management company Vecturis, whose CEO Eric Peiffer said Nigeria ‘has one of the most promising rail freight markets in Africa’.
