Passengers to pay N6000 as fare on Abuja-Kaduna train service

Passengers on Abuja-Kaduna train service may pay as high as N6000 for a trip to both cities as the Federal government plans to restart rail services in Nigeria.

The Abuja-Kaduna train services before the COVID-19 pandemic, the ticket for a first-class express trip used to go for N3000 but may now be sold for N6000, first-class normal trip N2500, now N5000, economy express trip N1,500, now N3000 and economy normal trip N1,300 will be sold for N2600.

Speaking at the weekend while inspecting Itakpe-Warri rail line, the Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi said the hike was to commensurate with the downsizing of passengers per coach in order to prevent the spread of COVID-19 while operating.

Amaechi noted that “we need to maintain social distancing and ensure that we won’t be able to transmit COVID-19 amongst ourselves, now that is worst when you have to deal with 4000 passengers a day between Kaduna and Abuja.

“In fact, this is more like a test run. I told them I want only 30 persons and I’m sure we are more than that, so imagine what happens when you have to deal with passengers. This test run will make us go back to the drawing board and the first thing we will put in place when we get approval is that the cost of Transportation from Abuja to Kaduna will double because each coach takes 88 passengers but we will reduce it to 40 and the price will increase but we will need to talk to the president before we move on” he stated.

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The Minister explained further that “the next thing is everybody must come with his own hand sanitizer, the government won’t buy for you and it has to have a minimum of 90% alcohol. Next thing is that you must come with your face mask without which you won’t enter, if you enter and bring it down, we will stop and you will come down even if it is in the bush.

“We will increase the presence of police for the enforcement of law and order in all the coaches and the implications are that when you enter the coach with your face mask and remove it, we will stop, you will come down or put back the mask and if you don’t, we will not move. Either other passengers force you to wear it or the police will force you, no matter how big you are.

“Because, the fact that you want to die, does not mean that I want to die, believe me, I want to live. People have to comply as there is no big man about death, if you want to die, you can go to your house and die peacefully whether you are a big man or a poor man.

“Everybody must obey the rules. We are going to comply with the Covid-19 committee and the committee says 3-metre distance that’s why we are reducing the number of passenger from 88 per coach to 40, not even 44 because you must give that 3 metre distance so that you don’t spread COVID-19” Amaechi explained.

On the ongoing railway projects, the Minister said “it is difficult to deal with timelines now, we were determined to complete Lagos-Ibadan by May, I don’t know when we will start Lagos- Kano but when we start, we will be requiring more than 10,000 workers, Kaduna-Kano 10,000 workers, Ilorin to Ibadan 10,000 workers how can we do that when we are trying to maintain social distancing. If you can’t get that number and you get 1000 workers you will be reduced by 90% then we are in trouble.

“But I want to take the position of the president that the fact that there is COVID-19 does not mean we can’t work, in fact, that’s one reason you see me here today. If there is one man who is scared of COVID-19, I am but then I also have to do my work as Minister of Transportation” he stated.

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