By Giwa SHILE
A total of 1,855,357 commuters traveled by train within Lagos District of Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in 2018, the District Manager, Mr Jerry Oche, has said.
TBI African said that Oche told the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) that last year’s train commuter traffic in Lagos was lower than the 1, 869, 626 and 2,319, 633 passengers recorded in 2017 and 2016, respectively.
The NRC boss said that 1,673,413 commuters traveled on its mass transit trains between Ijoko and Apapa/Iddo axis while 170,891 used its air-conditioned luxury trains along the same route last year.
According to Oche, only 11,053 commuters raveled on NRC Express Train Service between Lagos and Kano in 2018.
“We moved 1,855,357 people in the Mass Transit Trains, Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) and the Express Train Service in 2018 in the Lagos District,” Oche disclosed.
The NRC boss added that the Express Trains recorded no service in July, September and October due to wash-outs on the rail tracks in Oyun, Kwara State.
“Washout is a situation where the earthwork or soil formation of a track is removed suddenly leaving the track hanging.
“This could be as a result of sand slide, flooding due to heavy rain, blocked drainage, river overflowing, dam spillages etc,” Oche said.
The NRC boss said that the affected train, which was supposed to arrive in Lagos on Sept. 1, was held back until Nov. 6 due to the washout.
A ride on the Mass Transit Train cost N230 between lddo/ Apapa and ljoko in Ogun, while the air-conditioned luxury train cost N750 on the same route.
The Lagos-Kano ride cost N2,950 in the economy class of the express train service.
