In Nigeria, new Chinese-built train takes the strain

[John Ashworth]

In Nigeria, new Chinese-built train takes the strain

The train travels at a stately speed, taking more than two and a half hours to traverse little more than 150 kilometres (90 miles) of countryside in southern Nigeria. But the fledgling service is developing a fanclub among travellers exhausted by the country's notoriously choked, chaotic and dangerous roads.

The $1.6-billion (1.34-billion-euro) Chinese-built link between Nigeria's economic hub Lagos and Ibadan, capital of the southwest region, began partial operations last December. It counts Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka among its supporters...