Fuel distribution is expected to improve as from next week when the Nigerian Railway Corporation resumes haulage of petroleum products from Lagos to the North.
The corporation has also announced that it will commence the operation of Lagos-Kano mass transit trains on Friday.
A statement by the corporation on Wednesday said its haulage of petroleum products would also start on Friday "with the newly acquired pressurised light-oil tank wagons."
The Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar, will inaugurate the two trains and is expected to ride with the Kano-bound passengers on the new mass transit train.
The corporation had early in the year acquired 20 pressurised tank wagons costing N600m as it prepared to go into the movement of petroleum products across the country.
According to the minister, the 20 wagons have the capacity to lift 900,000 litres of petroleum products, the equivalent of 27 road tankers.
By implication, Umar said once NRC commenced fuel haulage; it would remove the heavy burden on Nigerian roads.
"The pressurised tank wagons have safety protection measures and systems that give confidence and assurance that the products are secure and intact," the statement added.
It also said that oil marketers and other domestic users would benefit from the bulk distribution of petroleum products by train.
The NRC said the Lagos-Kano mass transit train would leave Ebute Meta on Friday morning and arrive at the Kano station on Saturday morning.
It said, "The train will depart Lagos by 9am and will stop at major stations such as Abeokuta, Ibadan, Osogbo, Ilorin, Minna and Kaduna before it finally arrives its Kano terminal destination on Saturday morning."
