Nigeria Buys 25 Locomotives from GE Transportation

The Nigerian Railway Corporation will receive 25 new locomotives by 2010 from GE Transportation as per a new letter of intent bagged by GE from the Nigerian government.

The proposed Model C25 EMPD six-axle locomotives will be manufactured by GE Transportation South America.  The locomotives feature GE’s 7FDL 12-cylinder, 2,500 horsepower engine that will be supplied by its diesel engine manufacturing plant in Pennsylvania, US, the Nigerian Bulletin website reported.

Nigerian Minister of Transport Alhaji Ibrahim Bio said, “We hope that our partnership with GE in successfully implementing this revitalisation programme will serve as a model to the railway industry in the entire African continent.”

GE Transportation president and CEO Lorenzo Simonelli said, “As part of our proposal, GE experts performed an extensive analysis on Nigeria’s narrow-gauge railway network, haulage requirements and traffic patterns to determine the best fit locomotive.”