Lagos-Kano Train Services Resume Friday

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) on Friday resumed weekly Lagos-Kano passenger train service, five months after its suspension to facilitate the construction of the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge rail line.

The long-distance train, which departed for Kano at exactly 12:23 pm, is billed to leave Kano on Monday and arrive Lagos on Wednesday for another trip on Friday.

Mr Jerry Oche, NRC, District Manager, Lagos State, disclosed that after the train departure at Iddo Terminus, no fewer than 200 commuters boarded the train with eight coaches comprising two air condition and six standard coaches.

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Oche expressed satisfaction over the turnout of passengers for the Lagos-Kano train service, having been suspended before the total shutdown of all train operations on Sept. 30, 2019.

“The Lagos-Kano train, that just left, has no fewer than 200 passengers on board, in spite of the fact that we did not make noise about the commencement.

“I was really surprised with the number of passengers I saw today. The reason being that we didn’t make much noise about it but people still came. The turnout is impressive; of course the number was not the usual number that we used to carry.

“The train is going through various stations like Abeokuta, Ibadan, Ede, Osogbo, Offa, Ilorin, Jebba, Mokwa, Minna, Kaduna, Zaria, and others.

“We are assuring our teeming passengers that we are going to sustain this. We have done all we need to do to ensure that this service does not stop again,” he said.

Oche noted that the corporation delayed the commencement of the long-distance passenger trains to get all things right after suspension, adding that the NRC did not want to start and not being able to sustain it.