Nigerian railway moves 14,000 passengers daily in Lagos

Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation, Adeseyi Sijuwade
| credits: File copy

The Lagos District of the Nigerian Railway Corporation is currently moving 14,000 passengers on daily basis, the District Manager, Mr. Paul Ndibe, has said.
He also said that the district was targeting 20,000 passengers per day in the next six months from its recently increased mass transit trains, which moved from 12 trains to 18 trains daily.
Ndibe, who spoke with our correspondent in Lagos on Friday, attributed the rise in train passengers to the increase in mass transit trains, first from eight trains daily to 12 trains and later to 18.
He explained that the first increase in trains was a way to cushioning the effects of the partial removal of fuel subsidy, which the Federal Government announced at the beginning of the year.
The other, he said, followed the partial closure of the Third Mainland Bridge to ensure an unhindered repair of faulty expansion joints on the bridge linking the Lagos Mainland with the Island.
He also said the district had increased the Lagos-Ilorin train to two per week. “That was significant; and it was well tailored to suit the needs of the people,” he added.
 The Railway District Manager recalled that the NRC was moving between 8,000 passengers and 10,000 passengers last year when the district operated only eight trains per day.
Ndibe also spoke on congestion on the mass transit trains, noting that more people had taken to the train because it was timely and punctual.
He said, “Many people live along the railway route (Ijoko/Agbado – Iddo/Apapa). And people prefer the train because they are sure of meeting their appointments. We are regular and punctual. That is what we market. In about one hour, we are there at the destination; you can’t achieve that by road where there is traffic congestion in less than three hours.”
He, however, hinted about plan to ease the congestion on the train with the introduction of more coaches from locations such as Kafancha, Enugu and Zaria, where they were being trapped as a result of inability of the train to get to the North.
He said the repair of Akere Bridge, preventing the train from getting to the North, would soon be completed while all trapped coaches would be returned to Lagos.
Ndibe also condemned the attitude of people sitting on the roofs of trains, describing it as a suicide mission.
He said the corporation would continue to arrest and prosecute such people until there was a better way to end the habit.
Ndibe said the increasing use of GSM telephone with earphone had raised the spate of accidents at NRC level crossinCulled From The punch newspaper: www.punchng.com
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