Passengers of the Abuja to Kaduna train service are mounting pressure on the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), to return it to full operations as normalcy returns.
The Minister of Transportation, Mr Rotimi Amaechi, opened the train service a half capacity after the COVID-19 lockdown on Wednesday, July 29, 2020, which lasted nearly four months.
Since then, passengers struggle at the Rigasa, Kaduna to Kubwa or Idu, Abuja tickets which get completely booked just before 3 am each day.
Our correspondent observed the booking App over a few days and discovered that by 6 am, you can hardly get a ticket even for the next day’s trip.
As normalcy gradually returns plus the COIVID-19 vaccine currently circulating, passengers are calling for the full train services to return.
A passenger, Hanatu said: “I think the management should sell all the seats or add more coaches. This half capacity is no longer working. We go to even more crowded markets than the train so there is no need to keep vacant seats.”
Another passenger, Ibrahim Mohammad also expressed the same sentiments. “I think if everybody wears a facemask and uses the hand sanitisers at the train station, there is no need to keep seats vacant anymore.
“We are calling on the management to reconsider the decision on half capacity operations,” he appealed.
The NRC Managing Director, Mr Fidet Okhiria promised to raise the matter with the Minister of Transportation to see if the operations would be reviewed and more seats added to the service.
