Construction The construction of railways in Nigeria started from Lagos Colony to Ibadan in March 1896, by the British government. The Lagos Government Railway began operations in March 1901 and was extended to Minna in 1911, where it met the Baro–Kano Railway Station that was built by the government of Northern Nigeria between 1907 and 1911. The two lines were amalgamated in. OverviewRailways in Nigeria consist of a 3,505 km national railway network and 669 km of. There are also plans for a 4,000 km high-speed railway network. The Cape gauge network is in poor conditi. 80% of the current Nigerian railways were originally built by the,. The railways were built to the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in), the same track gauge used in most other British colonies in Africa. Several metro systems are active or under construction: •, opened in late 2017•, opened in September 2023.