The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has revealed that the corporation recorded 33,140 passenger traffic from the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge railway in the month of July.
This is as the corporation’s management is working towards introducing snacks in the lounge and was only waiting for a go-ahead from the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) before it commences.
According to NAN, this disclosure was made by the Lagos District Manager of NRC, Mr. Jerry Oche, during an interview on Thursday in Lagos on Thursday, saying that the corporation recorded more passengers in the standard class coach category.
What the NRC top official is saying
Oche in his statement said, “In July, the total passenger traffic on board the standard class stood at 24,948, out of the 33,140 passenger-traffic. For business class, we recorded 6,995 and for first class, we had 1,167, while the total passenger traffic recorded from Lagos to Ibadan in July stood at 33,140.
“In June, we recorded 7,134 passenger traffic from Lagos alone, while the increase in July was as a result of awareness and expansion in the trip after the inauguration. We are not using all the door coaches; we opened two doors, one for standard class and the second for business class and first class.
“Every ticket has a coach and seat number, and we also have officials who are on the ground to direct passengers. Passengers always sit according to their ticket numbers.’’
He said that the allowed luggage on board the standard gauge was 25kg. per person, and that excess luggage would attract additional payment.
The district manager further said that a lot of banks had written to partner with NRC to enable passengers to access money to purchase their tickets, adding that currently, passengers were using Point of Sale (POS) for payment of tickets at rail stations.
He also said that the corporation runs two return trips: Lagos-Ibadan and Ibadan-Lagos, 8 am. and 4 pm. from Monday to Sunday, while on Saturday, it runs two return trips: Lagos-Ibadan and Ibadan-Lagos, 8:30 am. and 6 pm.
What you should know
It can be recalled that earlier in June, President Muhammadu Buhari officially commissioned the $1.5 billion 157 Kilometre Lagos-Ibadan rail line after facing several delays after partial commercial operations had commenced on December 7, 2021.