I frequent the East Midland Train Service from London through the Midlands to the North of England quite regularly. Hence, my heart was filled with joy once I heard about the laudable project of the Kaduna-Abuja rail service. As an Engineer, I wanted to have first hand experience of how things are with the service and the challenges that travellers may face.
As the Kaduna State government intends to build a knowledge economy, I was further attracted to this laudable vision.
I decided to travel twice to Kaduna to be able to give an on the spot assessment of the service. The truth is that without an on the spot assessment, an engineer should not be able to give a verdict.
I boarded a service in the morning during my first experience and an evening one, the second time.
On both occasions, I arrived Kaduna State via the Kaduna State International Airport and travelled through Government Offices with ease. After a day’s peruse, I would journey to the Rigasa Railway Station to buy the ticket that will take me from Kaduna to Abuja.
Foremost, I checked on the railway website for schedules and departure times via Kaduna – Abuja Train Schedule & Ticket Prices ([month]) https://nigerianprice.com/kaduna-abuja-train/
The sale of tickets began about two and half hours before departure time and so there were many travellers; a huge crowd, pushing and shoving to get tickets from the counters. As we approached boarding time, many travellers were yet to get their tickets. There was alot of frustration and agony in the faces of many. This also allowed for racketeering where people hoard the tickets, buy them for keeps, so as to sell at ridiculously high prices, sometimes three times the actual cost price to desperate travellers.
The ticket for the economy class costs between N1,300 (normal service) and N 1,500 (express service) while business/ first class tickets go for between N2,500 (normal service) and N3,000 (express service). When tickets have been sold out and the train has reached full capacity, you still have travellers who would buy “standing” tickets. This means you have passengers sitting on the floor during the journey as it may not be possible for some to stand throughout the duration of the journey.
This self-inflicted pain need not be so. To improve the overall experience of travellers, there is need to make the purchase of tickets possible via online portals or from the company website. Also, there is a genuine need for more trains and or services so that travellers can have more flexible times to journey. For example, there are only two trips on Wednesdays- a morning (6.40a.m) and an evening (6p.m)! Travellers can enjoy four trips during the remaining days of the week- 6.40a.m, 10.35a.m, 2p.m and 6p.m.
The train departed and arrived on schedule on both occasions.
Overall, it was a very excellent ride.
You have the same feeling as “anywhere in the world”. The Air Conditioner (AC) was on in some carriages while people opened the windows in carriages without AC. Thankfully, the harmattan cools much like an AC.
The experience in the 1st class cabin is more comfortable when compared to the economy cabin and there is more space. There are charging points everywhere and the seats have arm rests.
To add to the comfort, you can get refreshements on board and there are on-screen information display that provide additional support in terms of health and safety apart from notifying one of the next stop. Fire safety extinguishers are on board just as there are two toilets and waste bins at the two ends of each sitting area.
There are many stations on route but as of today, the train does not stop at all the stations. Yet, the train had notable stops such as at Kakau, Dutse, Rijana, Gidan, Jere, Asham, Kubwa and Idu. However, the Express train does not stop anywhere apart from at a crossing station (usually at Jere) where it waits for the train from Abuja to pass. This is similar to what happens when you board a “fast” train as against a “slow” one on the east Midland train service.
The Business Model
The Federal Government (FG) should open up the business for private sector investment. While it is socially impressive, it is not economically sound to secure loans for investment in an infrastructure like this only to subsidize same. It is not sustainable.
Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) would have been rolling with cash if a similar rail service exists between Lagos-Ibadan-owerri-Aba, via Onitsha of course. Imagine how decongested the above listed roads would have been especially during yulletide seasons.
Interviewing some of my co-travellers, their pessimisms are well expressed. “It is obvious that the fares being charged today cannot operate the lines not to talk of breaking even. One cannot even mention loan repayment. We deliberately run government ventures at a loss, knowing fully well that the end game is to declare it insolvent and later sell it as scraps.”, a co traveller maintained. “As it is, they will soon be struggling with maintenance and then it will be back to the old NRC days. They should just concession those lines and let private sector bid for them and charge appropriate fares”. They added.
“The business model is not sustainable.
They will quickly erode the injected capital. Obviously, sustainability has to be a major consideration”, said another.
Room for Improvements
The next thing is to have more trains, more services and more coaches.
This on the spot assessment of our fledgling rail infrastructure has revealed that
Nigeria is progressing in this area of transport infrastructural development.
Engineer Idowu Oyebanjo MNSE CEng MIET, UK
