Abstract:

The proficient running of any society is largely dependent on the availability of an effective transportation system as transport is indicated to influence the quality of life by providing access to geographic locations where human needs are met. Despite the established positive influence of transport on regional and national development, it equally generates negative impacts on societal and human wellness through the unmitigated remittance of sulphur dioxides (SO2) into the atmosphere and economic/ social losses resulting from accidents. The increasing magnitude of transport externalities has been attributed to increase levels of motorization hence the clamour for the adoption of railway as a sustainable transport which has been globally accepted to play major roles in the decarbonisation through its environmental impacts. Until recently, commuting between Lagos and Ibadan lacked a functioning rail system though most developed and developing countries uses rail transport for intra and intercity movement however, following the revitalizations of rail transportation with Lagos-Ibadan, this study assessed the environmental sustainability of the new double standard gauge. Previous researches on rail sustainability within Nigeria were done using secondary data but this research, adopted a mixed methodological approach involving One-way ANOVA and thematic literature review to validate or invalidate the formulated hypothesis on rail transport environmental sustainability. The result from the analysis revealed the mean values of terminal locations such that Ibadan had the highest value of (M=18.78, SD= 3.49), Lagos, (M=18.21, SD= 3.32) and Abeokuta (16.31, SD=3.65). The ANOVA indicated that railway terminal location had a significant influence on environmental sustainability with [F (2, 388) = 9.10, p < .01] hence confirmed the observed variance in derived mean values. Further Scheffe Post Hoc test showed the mean differences between Abeokuta and Ibadan at (MD=2.47, p < .05) and Abeokuta and Lagos at (MD=1.90, p < .05) were significant however, the mean difference between Ibadan and Lagos was not significant (MD =0.57, p > .05). It is therefore recommended that the adoption of sustainable practises be employed by passengers and staffs at these location to foster the environmental wellness of the railway transportation.