The Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Mr Fidet Okhiria, has revealed that since the start of the free train rides, the corporation has moved over 63,000 passengers across the country between Dec. 21 and Dec 26.
The NRC boss disclosed this during the end-of-the-year media interactive session held in Lagos on Thursday.
Recall that on Dec. 20, 2023, Nairametrics reported that the presidency announced a 50 per cent slash in transport fares for interstate travels and free commuter rides on all rail lines from Dec. 20, 2023, to Jan. 4, 2024.
Okhiria commended the Federal Government for the initiative and encouraged the public to key into the initiative through the online platform, especially during and after the festive period.
He also disclosed that the NRC was partnering with various organisations on its freight as well as ensuring the safety of its tracks.
Progress report of various rail projects nationwide
Okhiria revealed that the corporation was working on some rolling stocks, to increase the number of coaches and trips from Lagos to Ibadan, amongst other routes.
He noted that there is an ongoing project to complete the tracks along the Lagos to Kano rail corridor to enable the NRC to move passengers and freight trains between both states.
According to him, the tracks on the Lagos-Kano rail corridor will be complete by the end of December.
- “Our Minister has given us an assignment to ensure that we can move the passengers and freight train between Lagos and Kano.
- “We are working on it in-house and we are trying our best to ensure we complete the tracks by the end of December,” the NRC boss explained.
Furthermore, Okhiria revealed that a locomotive and wagon had arrived in Minna successfully, adding that by Saturday, Dec. 30, NRC would be able to move the wagon to Kaduna.
- “We have also moved the wagon from Kano to Kaduna. We have some security challenges close to Kaduna; luckily, the military and police are supporting us to ensure that we can complete the track between Minna and Kaduna in the next five days,” Okhiria added.
The NRC boss further stated that the corporation would commence skeletal service around the Minna-Kaduna track and commence train movement in the northern part of the country by January.
He also revealed that vandalism of the rail line infrastructure was a major challenge the NRC faced, adding that the corporation had just replaced the vandalised clipper between Mokua and Kano on Wednesday.
- “We had an issue with the Warri-Itakpe track earlier the year, we were able to recover, and now we have commenced full operation along the axis,” he added.
Speaking further on the ongoing rail projects across the country, Okhiria said that the laying of tracks from Port-Harcourt to Maiduguri was ongoing.
According to him, the contractor I charge of the project promised that in 15 days, the track between Port Harcourt and Aba would be ready.
- “The technical department is working on the rolling track, by the time we occupy the track, it will not be easy to vandalise again,” he added.
Also, the NRC boss said that the corporation wants to increase the turnaround time of the Standard Gauge train between Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe and Abuja-to Kaduna in 2024.
Okhiria further revealed that the Federal Government was providing financial resources for fuel for the trains, as well as other logistics during the period of free train rides.
- “The free train that we are running now, the government is providing money for fuel, security and other logistics to ensure we meet the demands of Nigerians during the festive period,” he said.
Backstory
The Federal Government on Wednesday, Dec. 20, 2023, announced a 50 per cent slash in transport fares for interstate travels and free commuter rides on all rail lines from Dec. 20, 2023, to Jan. 4, 2024.
But the next day, the NRC boss, Fidet Okhiria, while on Thursday’s edition of Channels Television’s Sunrise Daily had asked that the Federal Government provide necessary resources to defray the cost during the duration of the free train rides.
According to him, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) was yet to recover from the previous transport fare slash for rail lines that was initiated by the past administration.
