The Nigerian Railway Corporation recently increased train fares from N460 to N700 flat rate for any destination between Iddo in Lagos to Kajola/Ijoko in Ogun State. In this report, TOLA ADENUBI, who boarded the train from Iddo to Ijoko, brings inside details of the riding conditions passengers are subjected to inside the train.
THE Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) runs mass passenger transit train from Iddo in Lagos to Kajola/Ijoko in Ogun State every day. The train which usually departs Kajola/Ijoko around 6.00 a.m. and 7.00 a.m. for Iddo, passes through areas like Iju, Agege, Ikeja, Oshodi, Mushin, Yaba, Oyingbo, before its final destination, which is Iddo. The train also returns to Ijoko/Kajola around 6.00 p.m. and 7.00 p.m., loaded with passengers from Lagos.
For many who reside in Sango, Ota, Ijoko and even Agbado axis of Ogun State but work in Lagos, the train has over the years represented a cheap means of commuting between the two states.
With a little lower than N450, a resident of Ijoko, Sango or Agbado could transit from Ogun State to Lagos Island to work in the morning, using the early morning train, and also return home in the evening on the 7.00 p.m. train from Lagos Island to Ogun State with the payment of another N450, totaling about N900 in a day.
However, citing inflationary trend and the high cost of diesel to power its locomotives, the NRC recently increased train fare from N460 to N700.
For the corporation, rise in the cost of diesel was a major reason behind the increase.
While many passengers have kicked against the fare increase, many have expressed dismay over the inability of the NRC to make any changes as regards the poor facilities and conditions in the coaches.
Speaking with Saturday Tribune, a passenger onboard the train, Mr Moshood Alabi, lamented that the interior of the train, which always looks unkempt, has remained unchanged despite the fare increase.
He said: “The train’s chairs are in a deplorable condition. The roofing looks worn out. Many of the coaches lack windows and doors. So, when there is a downpour, passengers sitting by the windows or standing close to the doors get drenched.”
First-hand experience
When Saturday Tribune correspondent boarded the train to Ijoko/Kajola from Iddo last week, it was fully loaded with the coaches’ toilets also filled with standing” passengers due to the fully-booked and congested coaches.
Aside from the fact that the train’s coaches were filled with passengers sitting on all the seats and tables, the walk-way between the coaches was also filled with passengers in standing position. Also, the toilets, which are always two per coach, were also filled up with passengers standing inside them due to lack of space in the coaches.
This has become a regular feature of the train rides in the state, denying those who are pressed for the call of nature the opportunity to be relieved before the journey ends.
For the NRC workers, popularly referred to as checkers whose job is to confirm tickets from the passengers onboard the trains, moving from one coach to the other is always a herculean task, given the level of congestion in the coaches.
Also speaking with Saturday Tribune, another passenger, Mrs Folashade Banjoko, spoke about her discomfiture the day she was pressed to answer nature’s call but had to wait until she reached her destination because the congestion in the train and its toilets no longer allowed anybody to use the toilets.
Banjoko said: “There was a day I boarded the train from Mushin and I became pressed when we got to Oshodi. I was confused as to how to answer the call of nature because the toilets had been filled to the brim by passengers who couldn’t get seats inside the coaches.
“If it is just to urinate, the experience inside the train has trained me to hold it for more than 30 minutes, till I get to my destination in Agbado. Between Oshodi and Agbado, the train passes through stations like Shogunle, Ikeja, Agege and Iju.
“Such journey can be like a hundred years if you need to empty your bladder. It is more unbearable if the call of nature is the other way round.
“Recently, I had to alight at a station when I felt pressed to use the toilet. I initially thought I could hold it like I used to hold urine, but I soon started sweating and feeling hot inside and I had to alight at a station before my destination to use a roadside refuse dump as an emergency toilet.
“It was a terrible experience as I had never experienced such before in my life. The train toilets were filled to the brim and the people there won’t leave for you to answer the call of nature. So, I had to come down at the next stop because I had to answer the call of nature.
“After answering the call of nature, I had to enter a commercial bus home since the train I came down from was the last train that night.”
Drenched inside train
Another train passenger, Jimoh Abass, narrated to Saturday Tribune, his ordeal during a downpour when he was standing at the entrance of the train due to lack of space inside.
Abass said: “The most terrible moment to be inside the train is when there is a downpour in Lagos. The last rain that fell in Lagos was windy and I was trapped at the entrance of the train. The coaches were filled up and we barely hung on the entrance just to get home in time.
“It was at Mushin that the rain started drizzling. I was praying to God to hold the rain until I got home but by the time we got to Oshodi, it had become very heavy and windy. Those of us at the entrance of the coaches were soaked to our pants because those passengers inside won’t let us come in. Those inside used us as a shield to stop the rain from getting at them.
“By the time I alighted at Ijoko where I live, I was already drenched and I was very cold. It was an experience I can never forget.”
Further findings by Saturday Tribune showed that despite the deplorable conditions onboard the Lagos to Ogun mass transit trains, the increment in fare from N460 to N700 is a flat price for all destinations along the route.
When contacted on the lamentations of the passengers, the NRC District Manager for Lagos, Mr Augustine Arisa, said the management was not unaware of the challenges passengers were facing inside the coaches but the coaches were currently being refurbished in phases.
He disclosed that in the first phase, six coaches were being refurbished at Iddo and Loco workshops, adding that as soon as work on the coaches was completed, they would be attached to the existing coaches in the corporation’s fleet.
Arisa explained that after the first phase, another batch of six coaches would be removed from operation and sent to the workshops for refurbishing so as not to completely ground train operation.
Congestion not our making –NRC
When asked about the congested situation inside the train, Arisa explained that it was the rush to board the first train that forced the corporation to run a second train 30 minutes after the first one leaves.
He said: “It was due to the rush that we noticed on the first train that we introduced another train that left 30 minutes after the first train had left. It was a plan by us to decongest the first train.
“However, we have noticed that despite the availability of the second train, people want to go with the first train, even when there are no more available seats inside the train.
“The passengers will all rush to congest the first train in the morning even when the second train is near-empty. The NRC runs two trains but the fact that people want to congest the first train is beyond the NRC.
“Everybody wants to enter the first train, irrespective of how congested it is. Both trains stop at same locations, but passengers will always rush to enter the first train, and that is why we always have the trains congested.”
Reform NRC Act now –ARR boss
Speaking with Saturday Tribune on the overcrowded state of the Lagos-Ogun trains, Director, African Railway Roundtable, Mr Wale Rasheed, explained that until the pre-independence Act guiding the NRC is reformed, Nigeria will keep running trains that are derelict in nature and incomparable to what obtains in sane climes.
He said: “A situation where the train coaches are overcrowded is not the best practice worldwide. We are supposed to have tickets tied to available seats, and once all seats are taken, no more boarding.
“However, that has not happened, especially on the old line, that is, the narrow gauge. When you compare the Lagos-Ogun rail services which run on the narrow gauge and the new line, that is, the Lagos-Ibadan trains which run on the standard gauge, you will admit that the infrastructure on the narrow gauge are derelict and the coaches are in very bad shapes.
“The manner in which we currently run the Lagos-Ogun trains, which are on the narrow gauge, shows a poorly managed rail system. The overcrowding onboard the trains does not help in the area of security and safety of passengers.
“The coaches of the narrow gauge are in dire need of replacement. The toilets getting filled with passengers shows that the narrow-gauge rail is derelict and is in dire need of reform.
“Until the Act governing rail transportation in Nigeria is unbundled, we will keep facing this kind of challenges. The NRC is still being governed by a colonial law of 1958. Rail transportation in Nigeria is still being governed by a law that pre-dates our independence.
“If the trains are well policed, the issue of over-boarding will be checked. The NRC Act is still being governed by a 1958 Act. The implication is that the Act is outdated because under that Act, the NRC is the regulator, operator and manager of rail infrastructure.
“There is already a concerted effort by the Federal Government to unbundle the NRC. That is still in the works. A committee has been set up and efforts are currently geared towards breaking the NRC into separate components. There is already a constitutional amendment that has pushed rail services into a concurrent list where State governments can now invest in rail services. Until we achieve this, we will keep running a rail transportation service that is derelict and out of date with modern trend.”
Holding urine, feaces is dangerous –Medical expert
On health implications of overcrowding onboard trains, a medical doctor, Dr Niyi Alebiosu, explained that too much crowd in a confined place could aid the spread of germs and diseases that are contractible via body contacts.
Dr Alebiosu said: “If the trains are overcrowded, then diseases and germs are easily contracted by unsuspecting passengers. A situation where many people are packed in a confine, any disease or germ that can be contracted through body contact will easily spread.
“Also, it is not good for somebody to hold his or her urine for too long. Urine is a body waste that is expected to leave the body. The body wants it out. However, if somebody cannot urinate due to whatever reason, and that person holds his or her urine longer than expected, this can lead to urinary tract infections due to bacteria build-up.
“In addition, it can increase your risk of kidney disease and in rare cases even risk your bladder bursting—a condition that can be deadly.
“As liquid waste builds up in your body, you get the urge to urinate. It is not harmful to hold it for a few minutes until you get to the bathroom, but if you wait too long, the effects can be unpleasant and even dangerous.
“Holding your urine for too long can weaken the bladder muscles over time. This can lead to problems such as incontinence and not being able to fully empty your bladder.”
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