TheCable

The Abuja-Kaduna train service recorded N5 million within the first two weeks of operation, Fidet Ikhiria, acting managing director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), has revealed.

Ikhiria made this known to NAN while travelling on the train from Abuja to Kaduna on Saturday.

The federal government invested $1.46 billion on the train service, which was inaugurated by President Muhammadu Buhari on July 26.

Ikhiria said he did not have record of the daily income of the service.

“In the first week of operation, we made N2.2 million; in the second week, we made N2.9 million,” he said.

“This is the third week of operation; the last week report showed that we had almost 5,000 passengers in six days.

”We have capacity for 320 passengers per trip; for now, the maximum we can carry per trip is 320.

”So, for a day, the maximum number of passengers we can have is 1000.”

Ikhiria said fencing of the tracks would commence before the end of August.

He acknowledged that there were some operational lapses on the route, but said the management was working toward addressing them.

Ikhira said some of the staff had yet to get used to the seat numbering, as it was different from what was obtainable in the previous trains.

According to the managing director, the coaches are overwhelmed by the number of people coming on board.

“Some passengers with economy class tickets are coming to sit on the first class coach because the economy class is filled up,” he said.

”We are going to do more enlightenment on this at the station and communities levels.”

On the speed of the train, he said the parameter for speed was not coach but track which, according to him, was designed according to specification.

He said the train moved at 90 kilometres per hour from the initial 70 kilometres per hour but would get to 150 kilometres per hour in due course.

“The slow speed of the train is to avoid accidents as people living close to the tracks have yet to get used to the movement of train,” he explained.

Ikhiria said efforts were being made to beef up security at the stations and on board the train.

“By next week, our scanners will be in place; I am also discussing with the Nigerian Security and Civil Defence Corps (NSCDC) to deploy more men,” he said.

“We have armed policemen on board and some security personnel without uniform.”

He added that efforts were also being made to install internet facilities in the train.