Jonathan Fabi & Olubola Akinseinde

Evaluating critical success factors of projects is broad and has not been fully explored. Most projects considered have been broad and not specific. This study evaluates the critical success factors (CSFs) of railway projects in Nigeria. The population of the study comprises of highway engineers, quantity surveyors, and contractors who are major actors in the industry. One hundred and fifty one (150) questionnaires were administered to the respondents using a random sampling technique. Seventy-six (76) questionnaires were returned and deemed appropriate for the study, giving a response rate of 51%. The data collected were analysed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (IBM SPSS Version 22). The findings showed that adequacy of plans and specifications (4.32) is most CSFs for Schedule of performance, adequacy of plans and specifications (4.49) is most CSF for quality performance, economic risk (4.50) is most CSF for budget performance, and project participant competency (4.43) is most CSF for time performance in Nigerian railway projects. The mean score for the 10 topmost CSFs were more than (4.00) indicating that the factors were highly critical to the success of railway projects in Nigeria. Additionally, the study showed that respondents with less than a year of experience make judgments about CSFs that are different from those made by respondents with more experience, and as a result, may not be enough. KEYWORDS: Construction, critical, railway, success, project0150