The Federal Government on Wednesday expressed its determination and commitment to modernise the railway system to promote socio-economic activities across the country.

According to News Agency of Nigeria(NAN), the Board Chairman, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Alh. Kawu Baraje, gave this assurance during a two-day inspection tour of facilities at the corporation's headquarters in Ebute-Meta, Lagos.

According to him, the more that 25 years inactivity in the corporation led to a decay of its facilities.

He said the President Goodluck Jonathan's administration was committed to revive and modernise the rail system.

"We are sincerely impressed by the level of revival in the Nigerian Railway, but the railway needs related equipment and we will find them at our backyard very soon.

"The board will step into action with the ministry and the government to actualise this laudable project.

"I will implore those of you who are professionals - the engineers - to work seriously, try and find the manufacturers of this equipment.

"When we now discover them, we can now barter some of these (old) equipment and they will give us modern ones," he said.

Baraje expressed the determination of the board to transform the corporation.

"In an organisation like the railway - which is one of the largest government corporations that has been lying idle for over 25 years - we expect a reasonable level of discontinuity. It is this disconnect we want to revive, wake up and reconnect.

"We have assessed those that are functional, repairable and those outdated to get connected with the rail transport trend in the global world," he said.

He commented the management and staff of the corporation for their ingenuity in rising to the task.

Mr. Austin Ogbuamya, Asst. Director, Carriage and Wagons, NRC, urged the government to expedite action on its plan to revive the corporation