Train Passengers lament poor services on Iddo to Kajola train services by Nigerian Railway Corporation.

By Afolabi Oyekunle.

Passengers boarding the train service of the Nigerian Railway Corporation on the Kajola to Iddo axis between Ogun and Lagos states

have called on the Railway authorities to quickly address the challenges they face daily.

Many of the passengers lament the inadequacy in the services. According to them the inside of the coaches are not decent and poor for transportation as most of the seats are worn out, lack of electricity inside, and the glasses in the windows of the coaches are broken.

A regular passenger, Mr. Pius Mordi in an interview said, management of NRC and the Lagos district management have over the years paid less attention to providing comfort  in the coaches used to convey passengers on the narrow gauge Lagos mass transit train service despite making profit from regular increases in ticket fares under any slightest excuse.

He noted that some of the passengers seats have either been damaged or not covered with leather, thus, making it uncomfortable for passengers to seat down properly.

Apart from that, Mordi said, management should address the  challenge of allowing passengers to crowd inside toilets in each of the coaches during transit, making it impossible for passengers who are pressed to ease themselves when the need arises.

Another passenger, Mr. John Nnadi tasked the management on the need to provide electricity inside the coaches used in conveying passengers at nights during return trips from Iddo to Kajola/Ijoko.

He lamented that

presently, passengers have no option than to sit in darkness inside the coaches during transit, adding that, passengers also enter and disembark coaches in darkness at Agege and Agbado railway stations during stop overs.

Mrs. Nahomi Cambili, in her remark, advised the management to repair the windows that are not in good condition so that whenever there is a downpour, the passengers will be protected.

While urging the management to consider reversing the ticket cost per passenger to N500, she said railway service in most parts of the world, is regarded as a social service and provided at a subsidised rate to ameliorate sufferings of the less privileged.

Many of the passengers said the management is only after increasing the cost of train services without putting into consideration the comfort of the passengers. They said there was no enough justification in the recent increase in fare from 460 naira to 700 naira without addressing the challenges they face daily.

Some also lament the frequent break down of the train engines making them to waste precious hours daily. They called on the management to change the coaches to new ones as they are not in good conditions for transportation of human beings.

The Lagos district manager of the corporation, Engineer Augustine Arase, however, said the district has started refurbishing the coaches in the corporation’s fleet in phases.

According to him, the first phase of 6 coaches are currently being refurbished at Iddo and Loco workshops and will be attached to the existing coaches used in conveying passengers as soon as work is completed.

Arase stated further that, after the completion of the first phase of the project, another batch of six will be taken to the workshops for refurbishing until all the coaches used in running the mass transit trains will be refurbished.

On the issue of provision of electricity-powered coaches to provide light and power the fans inside some coaches, he promised that some are undergoing maintenance repair.