- Safiu Kehinde
The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has increased its train trips from 4 services to 6 services over surge in number of patronage.
This was disclosed in a statement issued on Wednesday by NRC’s Deputy Director of Public Relations, Yakub Mohmood.
According to the statement, the new service upgrade will from Fridays to Mondays.
Meanwhile the Corporation’s Managing Director, Ben Iloanusi, disclosed that a five-month trend analysis recorded significant increase of 22% in the number of new passengers registering on the ticket platform to use the Abuja-Kaduna Service.
This according to the statement signified a surge in the number of Nigerians turning to the use of train services.
The trend was reportedly observed across several routes of the railway in Nigeria.
On ticket racketeering, Iloanusi assured Nigerians of heavy presence of its senior officials at train stations in an effort to tackle the criminal act heads-on.
He, however, urged passengers to us the NRC ticket platforms online to take advantage of the increased services and shun patronage of ticket racketeers.
The statement read in part; “The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) in reaffirming its commitment to responding to customer demands, improving customer satisfaction and tackling complaints of ticket racketeering has increased the number of train services from 4 services to 6 services from Friday to Monday when demand tends to peak on its AKTS Route.
“According to the Ag. Managing Director of the Corporation, Mr. Ben Iloanusi, a trend analysis over a five month period revealed a significant increase of 22% in the number of new passengers registering on the ticket platform to use the Abuja-Kaduna Service, signifying a surge in the number of Nigerians turning to the use of train services as a comfortable, reliable and safe option of commuting.
“NRC has observed similar trends on the Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe and Port Harcourt-Aba routes and efforts are already ongoing to beef-up services along these routes as well.
“The Ag. MD assured Nigerians of the increased presence of Senior Management of NRC across all the train service routes to drive continuous efficiency and tackle the issue of ticket racketeering head-on.
“Our valued customers are encouraged to use NRC ticket platforms on line to take advantage of the increased services and shun patronage of ticket racketeers.
“Additional information can be obtained from NRC website.”