The
Minister of Transport, Rt. Hon. Rotimi Amaechi has directed that every
prospective train passenger must present identity cards before obtaining
tickets at ticket sales points.
He
said that the each passenger on presentation of ID card will be issued a ticket
with his or her name boldly written to forestall the possibility of
transferring tickets to the highest bidders which was the practice in recent
times.
He
said this was as a result of complaints of passengers on hoarding of first
class tickets by some officials Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) and
transfer of tickets from one passenger to another by passengers at Idu and
Rigassa Railway Stations along the Abuja to Kaduna Railway Line,
Director
of operations and acting managing director of the Corporation, Mr. Niyi Alli
who dropped this hint recently in Lagos appealed to passengers wishing to enter
the Kaduna to Abuja passenger train to obtain ID cards as passengers who don’t
have it would not be allowed to board the train.
He
also said that some staff of NRC allegedly involved in hoarding first class
tickets, have been redeployed while some senior staff have been posted to Idu
and Rigassa to ensure full compliance with the directive.
The
minister posited that currently NRCis planning to boost its frequency, as the
Federal Executive Council has approved the importation of Seven Coaches to
boost transit of passengers in the Kaduna to Abuja axis. He was quite
optimistic that by the time the Coaches arrive before the end of this year the
pressure on the existing stock of Coaches will be reduced.
Regarding
the narrow railway line, the minister pointed out that the corporation short
and long term plan is to revitalize the corporation.
According
to him part of the short term plan is the in-house refurbishing programme aimed
at refurbishing the existing coaches and wagons in the fleet of NRC while the
long term plan entails the concession of the corporation to General Electric so
as to enhance importation of additional rolling stocks.
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