Railway corporation says passengers increase to 60,000 weekly
The Nigerian Railway Corporation, Mass Transit Train Service (MTTS), currently lifts about 60,000 passengers weekly, as against the 36,000 passengers it lifted weekly last year.
The Lagos District Manager, John Dottie, told the News Agency of Nigeria, in Lagos on Monday, that the figure represented an average of 12,000 per day as against 6,000 per day last year.
Mr Dottie explained that the increase was due to more awareness and better services provided by the corporation. He said that there might be an increase in the number of passengers using the service as more people were becoming aware of the operations. He said that once the northern track being rehabilitated by the China Civil Engineering Construction Company (CCECC) was handed over, the number of trains would be increased from three to four.
“In addition, six coaches are being renovated and when completed would be attached to two of the trains to increase their coaches and accommodate their high patronage,” he said. “At present, the coaches are congested as commuters still stand inside and at the entrance of the coaches.”
According to him, each of the new locomotive engines has the capacity to pull 30 coaches on a rake. He said that NRC officials had inspected tracks on the downward line where spots requiring repairs had been identified. “We have ordered our engineers to move to the site and effect the necessary repairs to boost our operations,” he said.
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