Welcome To AutoReportNG, Your No 1 Nigeria Auto, Car News Site: See The Rot At The Lagos, Ebute-Metta Railway Station

At times when we say the national anthem and when it gets to "The labor of our heroes past shall never be in vain", its difficult either to say Amen or just keep mute, this is as a result of massive rot in our infrastructure across the country especially in railway sector, one can not but feel emotional at the amount of wastage and decay in a country of ours that's full of milk and honey.

In the late 1800s, the colony of Lagos had a stable government, legitimate trade channels and was in a period of prosperity and growth. In 1895, the colonial administrators – Governors MacGregor and Egerton – decided to develop a railway line from Lagos to the furthermost parts of Northeastern Nigeria, to open the interiors of the Southwestern Nigeria to commerce.

In Lagos, a railway terminal was erected at Iddo to connect the Lagos Island with the mainland and act as a transit stop for the trains using the railroad bridge constructed along two major road networks that connected the Island with other parts of Lagos – the Carter bridge and the Denton bridge. Also in 1896, railway construction began from the Iddo are with extensions made along the Lagos route with stops at Otta, Ifo, Arigbajo, Papa Alanto, Abeokuta and Ibadan (1901). Financial reasons hampered the further development of the railway in Southern Nigeria and proposals linking Benin and Sapale (1906) and Ibadan with Oyo (1907) came to naught.

The opening of the Lagos Steam Tramway took place on May 23, 1902, and it was operated by the Lagos Government Railway. The original line ran north-west along the waterfront, from a point near Government House and the European residential area around the Racecourse to Customs Wharf, where it turned north-east towards Ereko market and Idumota. A 95 ft-radius curve took the line north-westwards again, through Ebute Ero and over Carter bridge to the railway station at Iddo.

Due to the ongoing Lagos-Ibadan Railway, AutoReportNG decided to do an assessment tour of the proposed Lagos Station at Ebute-Metta but we met some fierce looking security men who won't allow us into the site talkless of taking pictures. We decided through the railway village to see things and to access some trains over there but what we saw is depressing and a sad story to tell.

Entering the large expanse of land of the Nigeria Railway Compound, we see lots of railway materials that are rusting away, these are materials that are meant for the expansion and maintence of the rail lines but they are littered everywhere, also we noticed that 70% of the rail tracks have been covered with bushes and this calls for questioning as if trains really pass through these tracks or if the Nigeria Railway Corporation maintenance section exists. Some buildings that are meant to serve as a stopover or as passengers hub have now become a death trap as the weeds, grasses have taken over the building.

During our tour, we noticed some new coaches which are bought by former administration (GEJ), we noticed the coaches are still new but they were parked somewhere, we can't say if they are working or not but a closer look suggests they must have been parked for quite some time as they were covered with dust.

The New Trains By GEJ

We decided to pass through the Oil Department Hub, base on the look, this is where the coaches are oiled and serviced but this looks more like a mechanic workshop and some of the trains we saw there, Lord have mercy, in all, the railway village is nothing but an eyesore.

Most of the cargo trains are old, rusty and ought to have been disposed of, some of the trains seen ought to be taken to the museum for educational purposes as they are old, outdated and non-existent.

While we are rounding off our trip, we noticed that the CCeCC has already begun the track laying in preparation for the Lagos Station and work is on-going at a reasonable pace. We also noticed various machines all stationed within the site too, the land has been cleared and work is going on at a fast pace base on what we see. We tried to get some pictures but these security guys are not customer friendly at all.

These are some pictures we are able to get from our trip, what's your take?