Nigeria Railway moves over 30,000 passengers in eight weeks

By JONAH NWOKPOKU & WILLIAM JIMOH

The Nigeria Railway Corporation, NRC has said that over thirty thousand Nigerians travelling to Kano from Lagos have used the recently rehabilitated intercity train service.

The Assistant Director, Public Relations, Mr. David Ndanusa stated this while speaking with Vanguard.

According to him, the railway has maintained a successful intercity passenger train service since the kick off in December last year, transporting over thirty thousand Nigerians who are travelling to and from Lagos and Kano by rail.

Train users in Lagos.

“I can tell you that over thirty thousand Nigerians who are travelling to Kano from Lagos and returning back have used our train service. We run two trains every week and they are always filled up.” Ndanusa explained.

The NRC official who said he cannot estimate the number of those that have been transported through other intercity train routes, like Lagos to Offa and Minna, noted that the corporation will soon acquire more coaches to address the problem of congestion and to increase frequency.

“We are refurbishing more coaches in order to address the problem of congestion but the problem is that it requires time to refurbish these coaches depending on the level of deterioration. But we are doing all we can, in the next two months we shall have more coaches and then increase the frequency of operation in the routes we are running.”

However, when asked about how much money the passenger traffic has generated so far, he declined comment, saying that the figures will be made official at the right time. He however hinted that half of the money is ploughed back into operations and maintenance.

“I cannot tell you how much we have generated because that may be misunderstood. The figure will be made known at the right time. But I can assure you, half of the money we make is put back into maintenance, and don’t forget maintaining these locomotives are quite expensive.” Mr. Ndanusa said.

Meanwhile in the intercity train service, passengers have continued to pour in.