ABSTRACT
The perennial problem of petroleum products scarcity in Nigeria has instigated technocrats and scholars to take a critical look into the distribution system of petroleum products in the country. Seeing that other countries are exploiting the advantage of using railway transportation for distributing petroleum products this research project examines the suitability of distributing petroleum products through railway transportation in Nigeria. By employing the use of questionnaires, feedback was obtained from technocrats in the oil industry. Major stakeholders covered included the Retail outlets, Jetty, Refinery, Product depot and Tanker drivers. The results obtained were compared with those from a study of the Indian and American rail transport systems. It was found that rail transport will play a healthy role in the transport of petroleum products since it is safe and fast and has a potential of buffering the stress on the other modes of transportation and bringing sustained stability in the oil and gas sector of the Nigerian economy. Recommendations were made for the revitalization of the rail transport system and channelling resources into research on areas that will bring about a total overhauling of the system.