Four months after it suspended operation of its Mass Transit Train Shuttle (MTTS) service, the Managing Director of the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Engr Fidet Okhiria said the train shuttle service would resume tomorrow.
Speaking on the sidelines of the routine inspection of the standard gauge construction on Monday, Okhiria said commercial activities on the narrow gauge will resume on Wednesday.
The line was earlier suspended in September due to the ongoing construction works on the standard gauge, with which it shared a common corridor.
The Iddo-Ijoko service also had a spur into Apapa, with the train accounting for a huge passenger traffic especially from passengers living along the border communities of Lagos and Ogun States.
The Iddo to Ijoko, Ogun State station is the corporation’s busiest train shuttle service and the NRC’s major cash cow, catering for over one million passenger traffic daily and about 85 metric tons of cargo.
The corridor, also services the Lagos-Kano inter-state shuttle, known as the western line, which runs thrice a week schedule before the suspension of the service.
Okhiria could however not confirm when the Lagos-Kano train service could resume, as according to him, work is ongoing to repair a wash out bridge along the track.
But the Managing Director confirmed that the corporation utilized the opportunity of the four months break to fix the coaches, disclosing that passengers would be happy to see coaches with new oscillating fans, new upholstery seats, and fresh coat of paint to make them more comfortable.
He said: “We used the period of our holiday to work on some of our coaches and we would continue to do this as part of our commitment to see that we make passengers enjoy their trips on the railway.”
He further stated that the commencement of operation also mean that cargo operation has also resumed, adding that the railway would be willing to service as many haulage operators as would approach it for its services.
Okhiria said the corporation has acquired two brand new Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) train from the United States. The two trains would replace the two which are almost in unserviceable condition as a result of pressure of use.
On roof riders, Okhiria said while the corporation would be developing strategies to contain the menace, it will continue its massive arrest and anyone caught would be heavily fined to serve as deterrent to others.
He further disclosed that 20 coaches and locomotives that would be deployed to the Abuja-Kaduna and Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge speed tracks are already at the ports.
He said when the federal government’s investments in the railway sector is fully on stream, there would be remarkable reduction of pressure on the road and this would have a huge positive effect on the economy and the standard of living of Nigerians.