The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) will resume passenger and freight train services from Port Harcourt to Aba, Lagos, and Kano in the first quarter of 2024.
Fidet Okhaira, the NRC’s managing director, stated that the NRC will commence six train journeys per day on the Standard Gauge Train across the board in 2024.
Okhaira stated that the train was supposed to run 24 hours a day, but the current circumstances in the nation have lowered the turnaround time.
“We are going to increase the number of train trips to six on Lagos-Ibadan, Warri-Itakpe, and Abuja-Kaduna, which means the trips will be three times to and three times fro, making six trips in a day,” Okhaira said on Monday.
“The trips will commence before the second quarter of 2024. Right now, they are running four trips—two up and two down across the board.
”What is limiting us is the night operations, and that is not the way train should operate. Train is meant to operate at all times. People may like to travel in the evening, but because of the security situation in to the country, we limit ourselves to day time.
“We intend to bring back passenger and freight train from Port-Harcourt to Aba, Lagos to Kano and Kaduna because of the dry ports,” he added.
Okhaira stated that the NRC experienced vandalism in the Warri-Itakpe area in 2023, which was resolved two weeks later.
