UNBUNDLE THE NIGERIA RAIL SYSTEM MYSTERY
Moyosore Okeyode and Vincent O. Yakubu

A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE NIGERIAN RAILWAY SYSTEM
The Nigerian Railway Corporation traces its history to the year 1898, when the first railroad in Nigeria was constructed by the British colonial government. On October 3, 1912 the Lagos Government Railway and the Baro-Kano Railway were amalgamated, starting nationwide rail service under the name Government Department of Railways. With the passing of the Nigerian Railway Corporation Act of 1955, the company gained its current name as well as the exclusive legal right to construct and operate rail service in Nigeria. The rail network reached its maximum extent shortly after Nigerian independence, in 1964. Shortly after that, the NRC entered a long period of decline, inept management, and eventually a complete lack of maintenance of rail and locomotive assets. In 1988, NRC declared bankruptcy, and all rail traffic stopped for six months. After that, trains resumed, where the tracks were usable. By 2002, passenger service was again discontinued altogether. Starting in 2006, plans were made to restore the rail lines and add new locomotives with foreign assistance. In December 2012 regular, scheduled passenger service was restored on the Lagos to Kano line.

SOME OF THE OPERATIONS OF THE NIGERIAN RAIL SYSTEM
Nigerian Railway Corporation operates a network of 3,505 kilometers (2,178 mi) of single track lines, all have 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge. The network comprises the following lines:
• Lagos - Agege - Ifaw - Ibadan - Ilorin - Minna - Kaduna - Zaria - Kano, 1,126 kilometers (700 mi)
• Ifaw - Ilaro, 20 kilometers (12 mi)
• Minna - Baro, 155 kilometers (96 mi)
• Zaria - Kaura Namoda, 245 kilometers (152 mi)
• Kano - Nguru
• Kaduna - Kafanchan - Kuru - Bauchi - Maiduguri, 885 kilometers (550 mi)
• Kuru - Jos, 55 kilometers (34 mi)
• Kafanchan - Makurdi - Enugu - Port Harcourt, 737 kilometers (458 mi)
• Port Harcourt - Onne - gauge convertible sleepers.

There are a few extensions of the 1,067 mm (3 ft 6 in) gauge network planned, but none of these have ever materialized since 1980, from Gusau on the branch to Kaura Namoda to Sokoto, 215 kilometers (134 mi), from Kano to Katsina, 175 kilometers (109 mi), and from Lagos to Asaba.
In the centre of the country a 1,435 mm (4 ft 8 1⁄2 in) gauge (standard gauge) network is very slowly progressing, its main line extends over 217 kilometers (135 mi) from Oturkpo to the Ajaokuta steelwork. A further 51.2 kilometers (31.8 mi) line of standard gauge is operational between the Itakp mines and the Ajaokuta steelworks. There are plans to add more standard gauge lines to these ones: Ajaokuta to Abuja and Ajaokuta to the Port of Warri, together 500 kilometers (310 mi) and from Port Harcourt to Makurdi over a distance of 463 kilometers (288 mi).

In the past the 2 ft 6 in (762 mm) gauge Bauchi Light Railway operated between Zaria and Jos over a distance of 184 kilometers (114 mi), this line was partially converted to 3 ft 6 in (1,067 mm) in 1927 while the remainder closed in 1957.
All these trains offer relatively new rolling-stock consisting of Couchette-type sleepers, air-conditioned first class sitting coaches and non-air conditioned economy class coaches. Trains to/from Lagos also offer buffet cars. Between Lagos and Ifaw, a distance of 48 kilometers (30 mi), a local service operates on working days on behalf of the city of Lagos.

All trains are diesel locomotive operated. The railways owns theoretically nearly 200 locomotives, of which up to 75% are not operational, there are also about 54 shunters, 480 passenger coaches and over 4900 freight wagons, less than 50% of the coaches and wagons are in serviceable conditions.

At all 576 kilometers (358 mi) of main lines are controlled by panel interlocking and token less block. Rail tracks are mainly of the 29.8 kg/m (60 lb/yd), 34.7 kg/m (70 lb/yd) and 39.7 kg/m (80 lb/yd) types fixed by Pandrol K Type fastenings on steel sleepers (cross ties).
No trains have run on the Gusau branch since a bridge collapsed in Tsafe in 2002.[4]

In February 2011, it was announced that construction was about to start on the Abuja - Kaduna railway.

REVAMPING THE NIGERIAN RAIL SYSTEM UNDER THE PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN
The Federal Government on Monday in Lagos reiterated its commitment to boost rail transportation with a promise to provide more infrastructure.

President Goodluck Jonathan disclosed this during the official inauguration of two Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs) train sets and six air-conditioned passenger coaches at the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) Terminus.

Mr. Jonathan, who was represented by Vice-President Namadi Sambo, said the Federal Government had commenced the implementation of a 25-year transport sector development plan across the nation.

“This is part of the concerted efforts of our administration to steadily improve the railway rolling stock. It is the beginning. Within the next few months, more rolling stocks will be delivered.

“My presence here today is to further show the full resolve of this administration to bring Nigeria at par with modern railway services available globally by constantly upgrading our rolling stock.

“The ongoing railway rehabilitation will continue because of adequate funding from regular budget and SURE-P intervention,” Mr. Jonathan said.

The president said: “The step is aimed at resuscitating and revitalising Nigerian railway which had suffered neglect for decades.”

He said that the strategic transformation project included the rehabilitation of the existing narrow gauge, the construction of new standard gauge rail line and maintenance.

“With the support of the Senate Committee on Land Transport, the House of Representatives Committee on Land Transport and the efforts of the NRC management, the goal will be realised,” he said.

Also speaking, the Minister of Transport, Idris Umar, said most of the rail transport projects across the country would be completed by the end of the year.

“I wish to assure the President, the Vice-President and all Nigerians of our determination to ensure the completion of ongoing railway projects across the country,” he said.

Mr. Umar commended the Federal Government for its commitment and support in executing the railway projects in the country.

In his address, Bamanga Tukur, the Chairman, NRC Board of Directors, attributed the economic development of any nation to the effective and functional operation of the rail system.

“The survival and indeed the extent of development of any economy depend very significantly on the extent of development and efficiency of its transportation system.
“Our intention is to improve on the infrastructure of the NRC to ensure it increases passengers and freight movements,” he said.

Mr. Tukur said the Board of the NRC would continue to provide the desired policy to ensure affordable, safe, and value-added rail transport.

In his remarks, Governor Babatunde Fashola of Lagos State said new trains and coaches would improve the transport system in the state for the benefits of all residents.

Mr. Fashola, who was represented by the Deputy Governor, Adejoke Orelope-Adefulire, said the state needed rail infrastructure for its teeming population.

“It is a very welcome development to our nation, Nigeria and to the Centre of Excellence, Lagos State. No doubt, we require this infrastructure.

“We appreciate it and we will continue to give every moral support that the corporation requires as we now have complementary services in the transport system of Lagos State,” the governor said.

The Managing Director of NRC, Adeseyi Sijuwade, said the significant part of the Eastern Line rehabilitation would be completed by the third quarter of 2014.

“The corporation would continue to pursue its vision, mission, and core values to attain its mandate of carriage of passengers and goods in a manner that is safe, reliable and affordable.”
Each of the new coaches has passenger capacity of 68 seats and 108 standing.

Passengers who have embraced rail transport have opined that not less than one million coaches will be needed to sustain railway service across the country. This is understandable. With about five million passengers who travelled by rail in 2013 and 80 percent increase from 2009 in the operation of the weekly express passengers train from Lagos to Kano and Offa to Kano as well as the 16 daily mass transit train trips in Lagos metropolis, the burden and other ugly incidents on the roads in the areas connected by the western rail line seem to have subsided. Again, taking delivery of the first set of modern coaches comprising of six coaches for long distances and six air-conditioned diesel multiple units (DMU) mass transit trains for short distances, the Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) has set all machinery in motion to phase out old coaches and give the Nigerians a modern train service as it is obtainable in the developed world. The corporation imported 40 new oil tanks wagons to which it has lifted petroleum products and has equally hauled 500,000 tonnes of wheat, cement, laterite and other heavy cargo nationwide.

TRUE STATE OF THINGS
In a bid to ascertain the true state of things THISDAY embarked on a journey to Kano from Lagos. Mission: To verify first hand how effectively the train service works, and how far NRC has gone in to utilise the fund set aside by the federal government to better the lives of Nigerians through its operations. From the findings on the ground, it was evident that the corporation determination to right the wrongs of the past has started paying off. It was clear that NRC was desirous of providing a safe, comfortable and affordable means of transportation for Nigerians by rail. The effort to make the rail transport service the choicest means of transport by the federal government was noticed starting from the boarding point at the Lagos terminus, as the railway workers endeavoured to make passengers comfortable.

At the departure hall, male and female attendants dressed in green shirts and a pair of trousers was selling tickets to the passengers in the long queue. There was sense of orderliness. Unlike most public booking centres where passengers are usually cramped, jostling for space, this was not the case. The old system where touts used to hijacked the sales of tickets was no longer the case. The ticket centre at Iddo terminus was relatively conducive and organised. In the departure hall, goods/luggage handlers meticulously conveyed passenger wares to the railway yard, eventually into the goods and passengers coaches. In the hall, there was team of security agents, strategically positioned to ensure security and safety of the passengers and their goods/luggage.
THISDAY gathered that the security measure put in place was impressive, as security guards were seen parading in the yard to ensure safety of passengers and their luggage.
Some of the passengers who spoke to THISDAY said the efforts of the NRC to give Nigerians better railway transport system were laudable.

Muyideen Ganiyu, a passenger on the first class cabin who boarded the train from Lagos to Ilorin at the Iddo railway terminus for the first time, said for many years he had been travelling by road transport because he never thought the train service existed in Nigeria. According to him, he has been abroad for many years. But today I have every cause to be happy for my country, for the achievement we have recorded in this sector, and I have vowed never to stop travelling by train. When asked why he preferred the rail as an alternative mean of transportation, he highlighted numerous reasons such as improvement in the coaches, low transportation cost and safety of lives and luggage among others.

“I used to hear that the coaches are like bin can, which is not the best way to encourage the management of railway to do more. There has been a remarkable improvement in the coaches. With what I have seen, the NRC has improved but they still need to continue to build on recorded progress, “in fact with what I have seen so far, I’m satisfied with the ride. It is less expensive and safer than road transport though safety is of the Lord. I would also like to advise the management of the NRC should purchase more new coaches because this would help as the Nigerians, from what I saw at the ticket office, have settled for train system of transportation. Also, this would generate more revenues for the government”, he said.

MORE PATRONAGE
Not a few have called for more patronage to ensure the sustainability of the railway system in the country. In fact, many have averred that sustaining the present tempo in the railway transport will entail patronizing it by those who are yet to do so. Passengers who are satisfied with the service should encourage others to use it. This is one of the veritable means of boosting the service. A Lagos base businessman, Mr. Gideon Nwachukwu told THISDAY that from his experience, the train operation has been successful, and from all indications, the passengers are satisfied with the services rendered by the NRC. He called on Nigerians to patronise the train service because as he put it: “It is now functioning and running efficiently”.
Apparently satisfied with this experience on the train, Nwachukwu said: “As far as I am concerned, the train movement has been a successful. My business partners have been telling me but I did not believed it until I used it. My partners are satisfied with the train service. Aside from the fact that it is very cheap, it is also comfortable. I want Nigerians to know that the train services are now working and we move on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday.”

SECURITY
In a country where the issue of security is a serious concern, safety of lives and property has been given top priority. NRC told THISDAY it has ensured its security personnel flooded the coaches making sure the passengers and their luggage were safe and secure. The train ride to Kano was an opportunity to confirm if actually there was evidence of high sense of security for passengers and goods onboard the train, despite the large number of passengers onboard. The security agents onboard were practically restless, making sure no internal or external breach of security on the train. When the train arrived at Offa in Kwara State at 6:27 p.m., the head of the security agents onboard, Mr. Victor Ezeko, explained that railway police command was always in charged with the duty of protecting lives and property of people onboard, and therefore, must strive at all cost to accomplish this lofty task.

His words: “It has always been this way. Our sole aim here is to protect lives and property. Another objective we carry out here is to caution any person who fails to buy ticket and jump into the train. I want to assure you that from Lagos to Kano will be hitch free. There will be no security challenge because all the security personnel onboard are always at alert. We are not considering the low income of security agents, instead we do our job to ensure security of lives and I want to assure Nigerians that the railway transport is very safe and your safety onboard is assured”.

Managing Director of NRC, Mr. Adeseyi Sijuwade explained that there is no cause for alarm as everything has been to make the trains well secure and safe.

Continuing, Sijuwade, a civil engineer said: “We have made arrangement for adequate security on our trains. We intend to keep this up and continue to improve on it. We have armed policemen, the personnel of the Man O War, officers of the Nigerian Railway Police Command. They are to monitor passengers’ behaviour from the originating point in Lagos throughout the journey. We are taking the issue of security seriously and will ensure the measure we have devised is sustained”.

A National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) member, Mr. Damilola Sunday, who was onboard the train applauded the high sense of security in each of the coaches saying though the train transportation system is not as fast air transport, railway transport is safe and quite affordable, and as a youth corps member with meagre financial budget, he would want this to continue. I use to be afraid travelling in my NYSC attire on the road, but on the train, I feel very safe.
According to him, I would like to say that the train is very safe for travelling, though it was slower a bit that the road means of transport, I do not consider the slow nature. I am satisfied because it helped save cost and it is safe as well.




MORE COACHES
Not a few stakeholders have argued that if the present demand for railway transport continues, it is imperative the federal government and NRC embark on the provision of more coaches. They said this should be in addition to the refurbishing of the existing ones to meet the present and future demands. According to one passenger, Mabel Durojaiye, I would like to suggest to the management of NRC to embark on complete refurbishing of the coaches and provide more cabins to commiserate the high number of people who wants the train as their only means of transportation as well as make it customer-friendly and conducive for people to use. I want to appreciate President Goodluck Jonathan. I think it started from President Yar’Adua’s administration, and the management of the corporation for bringing the train back to the track. I am indeed impressed. However, there is need to have more modern coaches.

Durojaiye who is a businesswoman in Ibadan said she was not really happy with the situation in the train as she said with the high patronage which she observed for the train service, it is demeaning to provide just hundred of coaches for 160 million Nigeria population. She demanded that NRC provided for one million coaches for its service as Nigerians have already abandoned other forms of transport for the railway transport.

Recounting her experience on the trin ride she said: “My experience in the train from Lagos is not fantastic because I stood from Ibadan to Ede before sitting and I have a seven year-old boy and the ticketing officers said I have to pay half ticket which I did and if there was no way to carry him, he would have stood as well.

“I stood not because I wanted to stand, but because the rush for the train is so high that even a million coaches won’t be enough for the number of willing passengers per day so they should improve in terms of providing more coaches. Let me quickly point out here that if they observe that all the seats have been sold, they should not sell more tickets. Instead, more coaches should be bought to contain the passengers not carrying above the limits.

Another passenger, Patience Yakubu who alighted at Offa, Kwarra States said the train was now faster than I thought unlike before when it was used to spend longer time travelling. According to her, it is a bit faster and comfortable. I want the government to increase the number of first class coaches, because from what I see today, the preference is very high. The economic class coaches carry more passengers; therefore, NRC management should consider procuring more cabins to avoid it being stuffy and make it convenient for the passengers.

Unfortunately, Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) is not being run by commercial managers with adequate foresight. The coaches are still over-crowded. The toilets on board the trains are still filthy. The intra-city train schedule to cover train routes within Lagos cannot be found online. Bookings and payment cannot be made online.

The terminals are poorly maintained and uncomfortable e.g. Jebba terminus is dilapidated and has no power supply, till date. The catering rest houses which should be money spinners for the corporation if they were well-run, have been allowed to go down the drain due to their shoddy services...


And the list is so long! Why can't NRC correct these deficiencies first by engaging the private sector to handle some of these areas, in order to provide better service to the public??