Gboyega Alaka takes a look at the fate of the Nigerian Railway system, feeling the pulse of the transport system’s stakeholders.
FOR those who live in a train town, city or station, such as Ijoko, Alagbado, Abeokuta, Ilorin or even Enugu and Kano, the sight of the Nigerian Railway Corporation s coaches are common. However, the railway for all its might and ability to convey thousands of people at one go, it still the least recognised and less patronised means of transport (compared to road transportation), amongst a huge fraction of Nigeria’s humongous population. Why?
Conversely, living or working along or around major terminus or train routes such as Iddo, Apapa, Ebute-Meta, Onipanu, Oshodi, Ikeja, Agege or any other across the country inevitably makes you notice its existence, as each passing of the snaky vibrating machine is never one to be ignored or denied. Even the deaf is forced to ‘hear’ and feel its presence, as the massive engine shuttles, dragging its adjoining sections (coaches) up and down its rail lines, literally punctuating the consciousness of anyone around with its menacing noise, blaring horn and perpetual length.
Perhaps many Nigerians might be surprised at the disclosure that only four million citizens commuted on the train last year alone! (Going by the corporation’s MD’s declaration that the train ferried 3.2 million people in the first three quarters of last year). This, if placed against the background of the country’s huge population and the fact that even the Lagos Bus Rapid Transport alone (BRT), which operation is restricted to Lagos metropolis alone conveyed a whopping 45 million people in the same year, then we might begin to understand their perspective.
Neglected and shunned
The question is: Why is the train so unpopular or seen as a last option, especial amongst the majority of urban Nigerians? Everywhere you look, in Lagos, Ibadan or even Port Harcourt, there seems to be a mad rush for road transportation. People queue, wait and struggle and jostle to board a car, bus or sometimes a lorry – even to locations where there are available train options. And that is in spite of the much higher cost, greater propensity to accidents and frustrating traffic snarls on the road. The biggest irony of it all is that this same people daily hunger and clamour for alternative means of transportation, citing all the woes and difficulties bedeviling road transportation. To them, the train in Nigeria simply does not work. This they get from the images of over-packed trains they behold daily along Ikeja, Oshodi and other railway routes.
“I just cannot bring myself to getting on a train,” Tina Odogwu, who has lived in Abule-Egba area of Lagos and worked on Lagos Island for about seven years, declared, when this reporter asked why she had not considered the option of commuting by train. Despite the harrowing and frustrating traffic situation on this return trip home from work, with everyone on the 16-seater Toyota Hiace mini-bus soaked in sweat and lamenting being packed so tightly after a hard day’s work, Tina who has never commuted on a train, and has never thought of it retorted, “How can you expect me to go on a Nigerian train with all that overcrowding and people hanging everywhere? I even hear it is worse than a molue bus, with market women littering the whole place with their wares and leaving little or no room for comfort.”
For Tina therefore, it is road transport for now. The fact that the same situation she condemns in the railway exists in her preferred bus system does not seem to change anything. She agrees though that she will gladly hop on a train once she begins to see a visible change in standard and sanity level, “like what obtains in countries like the United Kingdom, USA and co.”
Not so unpopular
However, to some segments of the Lagos population the train is not so unpopular. Repeated visits to the popular Lagos Terminus at Iddo proved this. Despite its bad image, the railway has its own faithful, who will travel by no other means but the train. To them, it is already a part of their lives and will not give it up for anything, except maybe they moved away from the train routes or the big machine stopped working.
Akin Oyewole is a regular train traveller who lives in Ijoko and works as a teacher at Methodist Girls High School, Yaba. To get a comfortable seat on the first train that takes off by 5.00am every morning, Oyewole has to wake up and leave his home as early as 4.30am. Anything later than that means he would not get a seat, as any left over seat would have been commandeered and reserved by those already seated for their friends and relatives who probably hadn’t even left their beds.
He revealed that he prefers the railway mainly because of its cost-effectiveness. “Traveling by train is a lot cheaper than by bus. For instance it only costs N150 to get to Ijoko from Iddo terminus here. But if I’m traveling by bus, from here to Oshodi is already N200; whereas I’ll still need to take another N200 bus from Oshodi to Sango-Ota, from where I will take another N100 bus to Ijoko. That adds up to a minimum N500. So in a way, I am paying just about 35% of what I would have paid if I’m using the bus.”
He revealed that it is for this same reason that several other train faithful keep faith with ‘iron serpent’. Besides, it is their own way of appreciating the government’s effort, as it would have been a waste of funds and effort, if everybody despises the train.
Asked to comment on the comfort level, which is what lots of train cynics adduce for their lack of enthusiasm, Oyewole said “That unfortunately is one area the authorities seem to be failing. It just seems like there are no officials to caution or regulate the excesses of some of the passengers, who have a tendency to be reckless. If you wait a little longer, you’re likely to see how passengers fill up the entire space. To make matters worse, the people standing are usually more than those sitting, causing a lot of discomfort especially. It is as a result of this that a lot of people also place huge preference on sitting by the window, where they can easily get fresh air and also stay away from those standing on the aisle.”
For Iyabo Onibiyo, a trader who lives in Ijoko and plies her trade on Lagos Island, her love for the train started from the day she discovered it could help her avoid the maddening traffic on Lagos roads. “I normally join the 5.40am shuttle and if it takes off on time, I am usually in Lagos by a little after 7am, which for me is perfect. Sometimes, there is a delay and it takes off around 6.20am; but for me the big advantage is that I am not caught up in any traffic gridlock.”
She reveals that the same one hour 20 minutes journey could take her up to four hours in the morning and another four hours in the evening, which she said is one thing her ageing body can no longer cope with. If the 4.15 pm train moves right on time on this particular day, Onibiyo said she should be in the comfort of her home by 6.00pm, giving her enough time to relax, relate with the kids and even sleep early.
On overcrowding and the discomfort that comes with the daily trips, Onibiyo said it is a simple situation that could be solved if the authorities provide more coaches. “If we have more coaches, most of those standing and causing the rest of us discomfort would have seats and be able to rest their feet on the long journey. Aside that, I think things are reasonably okay, just that the majority of people out there do not know.”
At this point, another passenger who had been listening to this conversation narrated how one of the hanging passengers was snapped away by a huge tree branch and instantly killed.
Onibiyo and Oyewole would score the railway corporation a grudging 60percent for their performance so far.
Another train commuter, Gbenga Aluko however does not seem impressed by the railway corporation’s performance; at least in recent times. Aluko, a clearing agent at the Apapa Port, who together with a couple of friends and colleagues has opted for railway option to beat the frustrating traffic on the two major roads leading in and out of the port and beyond. With a home in Alagbado, he usually commutes on the Apapa-Alagbado mass transit shuttle and said he is usually at his destination in about one hour fifteen minutes, give or take. That trip, on a bad traffic day would take a minimum four hours. Recently, the Apapa schedule however became a bit haphazard and unpredictable, taking off sometimes an hour and half behind schedule. “In the last month or so, there have been unusual delays at the Apapa station such that the 6.00pm train takes off as late as 7pm, sometimes 7.30pm. By implication, this means I will get home very late, which does not augur well with me. Besides, I sometimes close much earlier and it thus means that I have to hang around until 7.30, doing practically nothing.”
Aluko thus thinks that the railway corporation’s management needs to step up standards in its Urban Mass Transit Shuttle.
He especially thinks the authorities should pay serious attention to the issue of congestion. According to him, the overcrowding has got to a level where passengers decide on their own to sit through their rides in toilets compartments. “What that means,” he said stating the obvious, “is that anyone who loves himself should take care of himself before getting on the train. As I speak, the only compartment, where the toilet is available for use is the first class section.”
He also revealed that he always rides in the first class compartment every morning just to avoid the terrible overcrowding of the early morning rush hours. He would gladly part with N500 and get to work looking and feeling fresh, than be miserly and ride in the N150 economy class sections and get to work looking disheveled. “Your white shirt would most definitely turn brown if you take the risk.”
This is, however, not to say that the first class compartments are in perfect conditions, Aluko volunteered, without any prodding. “If you asked me, I’d say the standards in the first class coaches need some improving because I see no reason why people should be standing in first class compartments. That is another overcrowding in the making if not discouraged.” He wondered why it is so difficult for the authorities to add more coaches, even to the first class section.
Asked to compare the rush-hour situation in the economy class with a typical overcrowded molue bus, Aluko says “The molue is better. If by any stroke of hard luck you’re not able to get a sit by the window, then you will end up on the seat edges, otherwise known as ‘sorry zone’. It is called ‘sorry’ because it is a place where all manner of people hit, knock and trample upon you and all you get is ‘sorry’.”
In a way, the general complaint of over-crowding seems to give credence to Adeseyi Sijuade, an engineer and the corporation’s MD’s declaration late last year. According to him, the corporation ferried up to 3.2 million passengers in the first three quarters of that year (2013). That, to many people, is an improvement and a sign that things are looking up. It also confirms the organisation’s assistant director, Public Relation, Mr. David Ndanusa Ndakotsu’s insistence that “it is not true that Nigerians are not aware of the railway’s activities.”
According to Ndakotsu, Nigerian Railway Corporation’s services cut across the country, with nothing less than 430 stations between Lagos and Kano. The same, he said is the case in the Eastern flank, from Port Harcourt to Maiduguri, where the stations are in excess of 570. He therefore argued that these stations and the renewed regularity of the train services negate any suggestion that the railway is not popular amongst Nigerians.
Critics have also tried to burst these officials bubble by benchmarking that statistics against the number of people railways in other huge population countries like India, Pakistan, Egypt or South Africa ferried within the same period. They wonder why the railway has continued to wallow in the backwaters of Nigerian transportation system, even when it is clear that it is the only way such huge number of people, like Nigeria’s over 150 million people can conveniently commute, especially within the densely populated urban centres.
Insufficient coaches
They also say the evident overcrowding, is only an indication of inefficiency or lack of adequate administrative and governmental attention. “Why should a train plying an urban route like Lagos-Ogun (Ijoko) be condemned to just about eight coaches?” Ladipo, who also travels by the train occasionally asked. It simply means somebody is not thinking or acting right. “Common Sense demands that we should have more coaches, more rail lines and more shuttles. It is then that the corporation can embark on any public enlightenment and expect Nigerians to migrate to the railway option. As it is, people are always going to score it low.”
For commuters like Aluko, his candid verdict is that “the Nigerian Railway system is not okay at all. The coaches are not enough and it’s taking them donkey years and endless promises to increase it.”
Sekinat Alaka, a jewelry seller, who sometimes travels as far as Dubai and India to buy her goods, also condemned the insufficient coach situation, wondering why Nigeria has to descend to this level. For someone who has commuted in trains in Dubai, India and other Asian countries, Alaka can conveniently tell you that there is no basis for comparison. “Aside the fact that the coaches are never enough here, leading to congestion, why aren’t the fans ever working? At least that would have reduced the near suffocating situation we sometimes experience on the train. Do you know that people sometimes faint due to the heat?” She queried, apparently adding a new angle to the story. She also wondered why the authorities don’t put on the light even after dusk, leaving all passengers in pitch darkness, something she described as “a lack of regard for fellow Nigerians and a prerequisite for crime.”
Alaka, whose only reason for using the train is its ability to cut out traffic therefore suggested seriously that “more coaches would enable more people to patronise the system.”
Paul, a trader in Idumota area of Lagos has a panacea to all the troubles. His solution? The corporation’s MD should board the train incognito and experience first hand what fellow Nigerians have been going through.
