Abuja-Kaduna train service safe, pleasant, predictable, time, Lai Mohammed recounts experience after traveling on
The Minister of Information and Culture, Alhaji Lai Mohammed,
has said that the Abuja-Kaduna standard gauge train service is “safe, pleasant,
predictable and timely”.
The minister stated this at the Idu train terminal, Abuja, shortly after
alighting from the train which he boarded from Rigasa terminal in Kaduna.
The News Agency of Nigeria reports the minister and his entourage boarded the
train to and fro Kaduna to attend the 47th Meeting of the National Council on
Information.
Mohammed said: “My experience is quite pleasant. We left Abuja at 6a.m. and the
first thing that struck my mind was the punctuality of the service.
“You can predict when you will leave Abuja and when you will get to Kaduna
without hitch.”
The minister said while in the train, he took time to interact with co
passengers who were excited to see him and they also share their experiences
with him.
He said with about 532 passengers on each service four times a day, except on
Wednesday that the train takes two trips, passengers on the route had heave a
sigh of relief.
Mohammed said with the train service, the pressure on the Kaduna road had
reduced while some people working in Abuja could decide to live in Kaduna.
He disclosed that more than three decades after the commencement of
construction on a 276-kilometre standard gauge rail line linking Warri in Delta
State to Ajaokuta, Kogi state, train operation had begun a test run on the
route.
He said it was heart-warming that the standard gauge rail line had finally come
alive after many years of neglect by previous administrations.
Similarly, Mohammed said the government is confident of delivering the 156km
standard gauge Lagos-Ibadan rail line in February next year.
He said work was also ongoing on Lagos-Kano: Port Harcourt-Calabar-Kano rail
lines.
The minister re-assured Federal Government’s commitment to delivering
functional and modern rail system in the country.