The Federal Government Abuja is to take delivery of 10 new locomotives for the Abuja-Kaduna rail system despite the fact that the system is in need of coaches to adequately cater for the passengers who sometimes have to stand all the way to Kaduna vise visa.
Making this disclosure, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi stated that the National Railways Corporation (NRC) will take delivery of the locomotives to ease the pressure presently being put on the two transiting Abuja-Kaduna rail route.
Amaechi stated this on Tuesday in Abuja when he received the management team of the General Electric GE to brainstorm on the concession process.
This is coming six months after the Federal Government had promised to buy additional coaches to accommodate all rail passengers from Abuja to Kaduna in order to save the four coaches that are available and currently been over stretched.
The Minister made the promise in early June 2016 when he went on a supervision tour to ascertain the readiness of the rail system for public utilization before the actual commissioning by the President in July 2016.
Two weeks before the tour visit, the Minister flagged off the test running of Abuja -Kaduna rail project which brought to light the need for more coaches as the number of people that turned out to patronize the train was more than the number of coaches available.
According to him, “currently from what we saw today, the number of passengers boarding the train outlives the number of coaches available. We have about four coaches that has the capacity to carry about 380 persons, but right now, more than 380 persons have been boarding those coaches” Amaechi revealed.
At the commissioning of the rail project in July 2016, the Minister again assured Nigerians of the commitment of the Federal Government to ensure that the rail system in the country is efficient and effective which necessitated the need for more coaches to cater for the teeming passengers that are boarding the train.
Amaechi in a chat with the press at the commissioning said that, the Federal Government was set to purchase more locomotives and coaches to accommodate the large turnout of passengers currently patronizing Abuja -Kaduna rail route.
it seems more coaches at this present time would have ease the pressure on the existing ones and also boost the number of passengers conveyed by the train per trip, a development which would have ended the situation whereby some passengers have from Abuja to Kaduna vise visa.
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