Low passenger turn out greets resumption of Abuja-Kaduna train service

There was a low turnout of passengers at Idu train station following the resumption of the Abuja-Kaduna train service on Monday.

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Transportation had announced the resumption of the Abuja -Kaduna train services on Monday, 5th December 2022 after Eight months of suspension of the Abuja -Kaduna train services due to a terrorist attack.

The Guardian observed that as of 10 am, there was a low turnout of passengers at Idu train station but passengers were well orderly in the queue as armed police and other security officers were seen stationed around the premises.

Passengers accompanied by their friends and families were seen carrying luggages and moving towards the ticket hall to obtain boarding tickets for the first train scheduled to take off from Abuja to Rigasa in Kaduna by 9:45 am.

One of the passengers at Idu train station, Hajia Aisha Gobir expressed excitement on the resumption of the train service stating that plying the road from Abuja to Kaduna is very bad.

She said she was the first to arrive at the train station and should be given a Business class ticket as a reward .

She said she used the online app to book the train and she didn’t experience any hitches so far.

Also, another passenger Unanah John said he had issues with the National Identification Number (NIN) because he bought a ticket through the app with his Glo line and his NIN line was registered with his MTN line.

He said one is not allowed to change the number on the app which is what he was trying to sort out.

Also, the Deputy Director of Operations, Nigerian Railway Cooperation (NRC), Akin Osinowo explained that the resumption of the train service was delayed because the Federal Ministry of Transportation needed to guarantee the safety of passengers.

In his words “I think we have gotten to that point now which is why we are resuming today, we have gone through a lot of background painstaking work in terms of security.

“Right now the service has eyes and ears throughout the corridor and throughout the stations and our rail lines are well protected, we maintain communication with our train every single time it is moving. We have a huge level of confidence.

“On the increase in fares, it is a worldwide phenomenon, diesel, for instance, has gone up by 300-400percent, also the cost of running the service has gone up.

“Nevertheless, the service remains competitive when you look at the comfort and the safety among others even at that service is heavily subsidized by the government.

“We are just opening after a long time and we are putting in place a lot of protocols, security systems, operating systems, a lot of technology among others and we want to make sure they are working well to guarantee and protect the lives of passengers.

“We know it will take some time for passengers to believe in us again but we hope to increase our services during the festive period,” he said.