By Favour Nnabugwu and Immanuel Jannah

•Passengers tell stories of joy and pains, says we deserve less-crowded coaches, faster trains
•Frequency of service to increase soon – Operations Manager

A disturbing testament of the rail system was overhauled after the commencement of the transformation agenda of  2011 was announced by the administration of President Goodluck Jonathan and completed by the Buhari government in 2016.

The Abuja – Kaduna train service is a 186.5km standard gauge double rail track constructed by a Chinese construction company, China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation, CCECC, for $1.46bn out of which $849million was obtained as loan from the China EXIM Bank.

The train service was flagged off by President Muhammadu Buhari on  July 26, 2016  and  commercial operations began the next day in Abuja with a four-coach train.

According to investigation by Sunday Vanguard, the  train takes 320 passengers on each trip to Kaduna and back with 56 business class seats at N900 while the remaining 264 economy seats sells at N700 each. This translates to over 60,000 passengers per month even as the train runs for six of the seven days of the week. It generates over N5.6 million income every month

An official at Kubwa Station, who spoke to Sunday Vanguard on the condition of anonymity  as he was not permitted to speak to the media, said the rail service was meeting its target income on daily, weekly and monthly basis but for some hiccups here and there.

He said Kubwa was a sub-station to Idu Station to board the train, as it was always faced with limited space for passengers boarding from Kubwa, because Idu Station sells more than 80 percent of its ticket and leaves the remaining 20 percent for the Kubwa end.

The Operations Manager of the Abuja –Kaduna train service, Idu Station,  Abuja, Mr. Victor Adamu, told Sunday Vanguard that the station had consistently enjoyed high level of patronage. “We have an increasing number of passengers travelling by train and the flow  at the station has been  consistently high,”Adamu said,

‘We deserve less-crowded coaches, faster trains’

“As you can see, it is a train of four coaches and on a single trip we carry up to 320 passengers and each day, we carry up to 1,280 passengers. So, it has been very impressive. We run every day but we don’t run on Sundays”.

On the reservations expressed by some passengers, Adamu said: “On the issue of carrying-capacity, yes, we have that challenge.

“But, there are plans to increase the number of  coaches. As you can see, four coaches cannot serve the growing number of passengers wishing to join the train at  Abuja and Kaduna terminals. So, government is doing everything possible to see that we strengthen the system. We are hopeful that we’ll receive more coaches by January.

“Again, we intend to increase the frequency of our trains. As you can see, due to our schedule, we run two trips a day. But with time, if we get enough coaches, we’ll be able to increase the frequency. If we do that, you’ll find out that at all times, if somebody leaves Kaduna, he can come and do business in Abuja and go back the same day and vice versa. We should be able to have a train leave Kaduna for Abuja or Abuja for Kaduna every hour. I believe government is doing everything to increase the frequency and capacity.”

On the speed of the train, he said: “Also, you can see we run at  a speed of 90km per hour, and you know the core mandate of  these trains is to afford the working public an opportunity to come into Abuja in one hour and a half, do their work or business and return to Kaduna. So, we are looking at locomotives that can run between 120 – 150 km per hour.”

When Sunday Vanguard inquired  about the security measures in place to ensure the safety of passengers on board the train, Adamu said: “As you know, we used to have the issue of security but it has been taken care of. We now have enough security personnel in all of our stations.

“We also have railway police that go with the train and  make sure that the train and passengers are  safe. We want to appeal to the public not to entertain  any fear, because the Federal Government has taken the bull by the horn, as it is doing everything possible to see how the railway system can take its rightful place in the transportation sector in the country.”

When asked to comment on the on-going construction work taking place at the station, he said: “The on-going construction works  are metro lines. The metro lines are FCT projects. The idea is to have rail connectivity. There are the ones that go into the city centre from  Idu Station”.

Meanwhile, with the impressive turnout of passengers, a typical trip from  Idu Station in Abuja to Rigasa Station in Kaduna or vice versa is filled with  excitement and trepidation.

Hajia Serifatu Bello, who resides in Kaduna  and was boarding the train for the second time, revealed that she enjoyed riding in the train as passengers were not allowed to stand or hang between the seat rows.

“This is my second time and l must say it is pleasurable to travel from Kubwa to Kaduna. But l hope government will maintain the train because we still have  problem with maintenance.

“They also need to beef up security at the rail stations and inside the train as well.”

For Oyeronke Ibikunle, although a trip from Abuja to Kaduna is an exciting experience, it is riddled with challenges. Asked  about her major reservations, the 22-year-old undergraduate said the train was over-loaded  and so was a source of  discomfort to passengers especially those travelling on economy seats. “Though I like the experience of travelling by train and savouring the beauty of nature in the hinterland, there’s something I don’t like with the service. The other time I came to Abuja from Kaduna, the train was overloaded. I had to stand throughout the journey. They should stop selling tickets to passengers the moment they have said for the number of seats onboard. It is not only making us uncomfortable, it is overstretching the load capacity of the coaches, and that is what leads to quick depreciation of the trains and waste of public resources.”

According to Lancelot Umejiburu, a 36-year-old Kaduna-based businessman, the trains round-trip is low and speed slow. When asked   why he wanted an increase in the number of daily trips and better speed for the train, he said: “As you can see, they run two trips a day from Abuja to Kaduna and vice versa.

“Maybe it’s because they do not have enough coaches. For those of us that do business, we aced a train service that can allow us to leave Kaduna and come and do business in Abuja and go back the same day. Again, the train is not  fast enough. It travels at about 90km per hour and we spend roughly three hours onboard each trip. I wish they can make it run at about 120-150km per hour”.

But the experience of the Balarabes, on the 210 minutes trip from Idu in Abuja to Rigasa train station in Kaduna, was positive on Nigeria’s first standard railway operation. Hajiya Mairo Balarabe is a 48-year-old mother based in Kano and was about to board the train with her husband from Idu.  She commended President Buhari for the achievement in opening up the country through rail transportation.

Reminiscing on the use of train services in the United States of America where two of her children are acquiring university education, she said: “Whenever I visit my children in the US, I see wonderful things happening especially when we are aboard a train. So, when I was told that the Abuja-Kaduna train service has commenced, I decided to use it, otherwise, I would have made the journey by air which I do regularly. And ever since my first train trip, I have not looked back”.

Her husband, Shehu Balarabe, a retired permanent secretary, was of the view that government should  replicate the Abuja-Kaduna train operation in other parts of the country.” A well-organized train system in the country means that haulage will be cheaper. “I cannot imagine travelling from Abuja to Kaduna and just spending N900 which is about seven litres of fuel and your safety cannot be guaranteed if you use the roads.”

When Sunday Vanguard, sought to find out how exciting a train trip is from Idu to Rigasa, Onome Momoh, in the company of her fiancé, Godwin Eigbogbo, who runs a bakery in Abuja, said: “We have consistently used train in recent months. We like the music, film, cool ambience of the environment and it is safe. The stress we go through on Abuja- Kaduna road is gone for good.”