One year after its re-introduction, poor services have crippled the Lagos-Kano intercity rail line, with travel time worsening by 13 hours.
Investigations by Vanguard reveal that the intercity service, which was flagged off by the Minister of Transport, Senator Idris Umar in Lagos December, 2012, is still being bedeviled by the same problems of ticket touting, disorderliness and frequent breakdowns.
The reintroduction of the passenger service had attracted a surge in rail users within the southwestern-northern axis, which overwhelmed the resources and capacity of the railway management. Hence, overcrowding, technical failures and delays became the order of the day, with passengers demanding for more rolling stocks and improved quality of service.
Travel time worsens
When the service was reintroduced in December, 2012, the journey from Lagos to Kano took between 29 to 30 hours. By mid-March, it worsened to 34 hours, and further to 39 hours by the end of August. And by December, 2013, the journey time had increased to 43 hours. For example, the Lagos to Kano train that departed Lagos by 3: 00 pm on Friday, 20th of December, 2013, got to Kano by 10: 00 am on Sunday, December, 22nd.
Volume of passenger drops
As a result of these problems, passengers have started avoiding the intercity rail line service. Most passengers rarely patronise the service twice. This is reflected in the passenger volume per trip which dropped from 2000 in January to 1,000 by mid October. This trend was confirmed by the passenger volume on the Lagos to Kano service on Friday December 20th. The train took off with 700 passengers which filled only three of the eight coaches. Although the remaining coaches were later filled along the way, this was not the case from the beginning.
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