Insecurity/bad road: Abuja-Kaduna commuters outstretch train capacity

 VIPs ‘hustle’ for First Class       Passengers want more coaches

By Abdulaziz Abdulaziz
Abuja

Poor road network, incessant cases of kidnapping and armed robbery along the Abuja-Kaduna road, have combined to make it unattractive to ply the ever-busy highway, giving rise to higher patronage of the Kaduna-Abuja rail line considered safer and more cost effective, Blueprint investigation has shown.
The road, which is a distance of about 211 kilometres from Kaduna to Abuja, link between the Federal Capital Territory and the North-western part of the country, and serves same purpose for traders from Niger Republic.
The new rail line, which was opened to passengers in July, last year, by President Muhammadu Buhari, operates two return trips between the two cities.

While long distant travellers have no choice but to travel by road, commuters moving from either Kaduna or Abuja have come to rely more on the train service.
Lack of routine maintenance in recent years has left the important highway with craters and potholes, often causing ghastly accidents and damage to vehicles, especially tyres.
Also, in addition to random cases of armed robbery, rising cases of kidnapping, especially around the ember months last year, also contributed to discouraging a number of motorists from using the road.
Our correspondent who travelled by the train to Kaduna last week, observed how the new transport means is gaining currency among travellers, as passengers struggle to obtain tickets at various railway stations.
The service operates from Idu and Kubwa stations in the outskirts of Abuja city, making two stops along the line before terminating at Rigasa station in the outer parts of Kaduna. Each trip takes the locomotive two hours.

An employee of the Nigerian Railway Corporation working at the Kubwa station, Mr. Idoko John, said since the rail line became operational last year, it has never witnessed a lull in passenger turn out.
“You know at the beginning, many people came to take it as a jolly ride. A lot of young people in Nigeria have never travelled by train, so, to them, it was fun and leisure. However, soon people realised that it is safer and better to follow the train than travel by road,” he said.
John also informed Blueprint that with increased security risks along the Abuja-Kaduna road, many ranking members of the society, otherwise called the VIPs, turned to the railway for their shuttles between the two cities.
“You can see how posh cars come here to drop off passengers that are very wealthy members of the society. Some will be dropped off at our station in Kaduna and have another driver come here to drop them off.”
The hustling and high demand of the first class ticket by mostly the VIPs, which goes for N900, has resulted into racketeering by touts who buy tickets and sell off at high bargained prices.
Blueprint observed that the seats in the service are frequently overbooked, making some passengers undertake the journey while standing.
A civil servant, Adamu Isyaku, told our correspondent that he usually buys his ticket ahead of time for fear of scarcity, especially for end of the week services.
A regular traveller on the train, Aliyu Ahmed, who resides in Kaduna, said he has since abandoned using his car to travel to Kaduna from Abuja, for the weekend.

“Every Saturday, I would come here (Kubwa station) very early in the morning and take the 7:20am scheduled trip to Kaduna. By 10am I would be in my house. On Sundays, I take the 6pm service back to Abuja to resume for work on Monday. This has saved me the hassle and the money I spent on taking my vehicle to mechanic every now and then, and even cost of fuelling the car.”
Similarly, a commercial taxi driver who shuttles between Abuja and Kaduna, Malam Ahmed Sani, lamented what he called the sharp decline in the number of passengers on his regular route.
“I can tell you, we have lost well over 50 percent of our passengers to the rail line. Before the advent of this new transport system, I used to do between three to four trips between Abuja and Kaduna but now, God help me if I do two” he said.
However, Okada riders and taxi drivers make brisk business at the railway terminal in Rigasa, Kaduna state and the two Abuja stations.

For instance, an Okada operator in Rigasa, who gave his name as Ado, said he has concentrated his operations now on moving train passengers from the terminal to the main road, saying it has made significant improvement on his income.
Passengers who spoke to our correspondent at both Kaduna and Kubwa stations called for more luggage and passenger security, expressing dissatisfaction with the check-in process.
They also demand for increase in the number of coaches on the route in order to meet up with rising passenger patronage.
Recently, the Managing Director of NRC, Mr. Fidet Okhiria, was reported to have disclosed that the corporation was in the process of bringing in the second locomotive and more coaches to increase carriage capacity.
He said the corporation would also deploy a 150-kilometre-per hour locomotive on Abuja-Kaduna rail gauge to meet passengers’ demand.
Okhiria said once the design specification was confirmed by the engineers, the corporation would start making arrangements for its shipment and subsequent deployment.