President Bola Tinubu has scheduled the inauguration of the Kaduna‑Kano Standard Gauge Railway for 3 December, as the 203‑kilometre line approaches 90 percent completion, the All Progressives Congress (APC) Presidential Campaign Council said in a statement on Sunday.
The council noted that the Kaduna‑Kano project, which was under 30 percent complete when Tinubu assumed office, will create a continuous standard‑gauge link between Abuja, Kaduna, Zaria and Kano, connecting several of northern Nigeria’s major commercial centres and offering an alternative to the heavily used road corridor.
A federal delegation headed by Engr. Funso Adebiyi, Permanent Secretary of the Federal Ministry of Transportation, recently inspected the works. The team expressed satisfaction with the railway’s alignment, drainage, embankment protection, stone pitching and soil stabilisation, and conducted a test run from Jaji in Kaduna State to Kano to evaluate track quality and passenger comfort.
The president has ordered that all outstanding land‑acquisition and compensation matters within the Kaduna metropolis be resolved without delay, a step aimed at clearing the remaining stretch that will link the line to Abuja.
In parallel, the Kano‑Katsina‑Maradi railway has reached 70 percent completion, up from just five percent in 2023, with the 250‑kilometre Dawuni‑Kano‑Kazaure‑Daura‑Katsina section slated for inauguration on the same day. The completed 190‑kilometre Jaji‑Kano segment of the Kaduna‑Kano line and the new rail corridor are expected to boost passenger and freight movement across northern Nigeria and strengthen cross‑border trade with the neighbouring Niger Republic.
<small>Source: The Sun Nigeria — read the original story there.</small>
