Minister of Transportation, Rotimi Amaechi, has disclosed plans to move two additional coaches from the Intake Warrior railway to the corridor to decongest the mounting pressure on the Abuja-Kaduna train service.
Amaechi, who spoke with journalists yesterday after the inspection of the Lagos-Ibadan railway in Abuja, said he was aware of the ongoing racketeering at the Idu and Rigasa stations as coaches that usually take 200 passengers now carry 500 persons.
He said: “We also discovered that some people will buy tickets and resell to the public. We’re going there. We’ll put policemen there to arrest them. Even if you put policemen there, that won’t solve the problem.”
“The queue is because the coaches are not enough; people are standing. The reason for which we bought those coaches was for people to sit down. So, I have directed that they should move two coaches from Itakpe-Warri to Abuja-Kaduna.”
He said it would be difficult to manage when passengers will stop standing because the upsurge is high.“We are going to China to inspect the new coaches and locomotives meant for Lagos-Ibadan and some of the coaches would be deployed to Kaduna-Abuja,” he said.
