Nigeria: The DF8BN diesel locomotive, produced by CRRC in 2020, was retrofitted to run on a 70/30 gas-diesel blend.
It has been put into trial operation on a new 1,435 mm gauge 187 km Abuja–Kaduna rail corridor. LNG refuelling is provided by Greenville on the Idu station.
The retrofit was carried out by De-Sadel Consortium under a 20-year agreement with the country’s government to convert the fleet of the rail operator, NRC, to gas and its further technical support. This step is expected to result in crashing the price of maintenance by 50%.
The DF8BN diesel locomotive converted to LNG. Source: TVC NEWS
Previously, the same initiative of transports’ conversion to gas saw the government propose acquiring a gas-powered trainset for the future Kano–Moradi line. In 2023, the authorities turned to the Portuguese Mota-Engil, the construction contractor, with a corresponding request. However, no public response followed yet.
