Nigeria plans to augment capacity of Standard Gauge Railway project

The Nigerian Senate has revealed that more coaches should be deployed to Abuja-Kaduna train service, amid increasing traffic on the first China-assisted Standard Gauge Railway project in West Africa.

The voice voting conducted by Senate President Bukola Saraki on Wednesday followed a motion by Senator Ali Ndume, representing Borno State, that the urgent need to increase the number of coaches in the Abuja-Kaduna rail line would ameliorate the plight of passengers who have resorted to travelling by rail out of fear of kidnapping and other criminal activities while travelling by road.

According to the official News Agency of Nigeria, the Senate has also called on the Nigerian Railway Corporation to increase the frequency of trips, while regulating prices to check abuse on the Abuja-Kaduna rail line.

Ndume said that most passengers travelling between Kaduna and Abuja had resorted to rail as a safer means of transport. He also said that the increase in the patronage of the rail services came as a result of its relative safety, comfort, convenience, and affordability. Ndume said many travellers jostle for tickets at the train stations on a daily basis, adding that a shortage in the number of available coaches was the reason for the long queues recorded at the stations, as reported by Xinhua.

Senator Shehu Sani, representing Kaduna, described the Abuja-Kaduna railway as "the oxygen and lifeline of the people," saying the road had become one of the most dangerous roads in the country. Senate Committee Chairman on Transport, Gbenga Ashafa, said 12 more coaches would be delivered shortly to enable more passengers to travel on the Abuja-Kaduna rail.

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