The Managing Director, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Fidet Okhiria, has said that the Corporation has developed a Train Track Access Framework (TTAF) to encourage Public-Private Partnership (PPP).
Okhiria said this during a press briefing held at the NRC’s Headquarters in Ebute Metta, Lagos on Wednesday.
He said that the establishment of the Train Track Access Framework would enable third parties to use the track.
Okhiria said the framework would increase private sector participation and also increase the usage of the trackers.
He said that the Train Track Access Framework would also improve interstate business and passengers would pay a lesser amount for the carriage of goods from one point to another.
“We have tendered the Train Track Access Framework to the Board of NRC during our last meeting and we hope that the framework will be approved at the next board meeting.
“We have set up a team to work with the Lagos State Metropolitan Area Transport Authority (LAMATA) to enable them to operate successfully.
“LAMATA had just received wagons for the Red line and hopefully they will start operation before the first quarter of 2023,” Okhiria said.
He said that efforts were being made by the Federal Government to adequately secure trains passengers nationwide as well as to address other industry issues.
Okhiria said the incident of March 28, 2022 impacted not just on the Abuja-Kaduna route but on all the train services nationwide as efforts were being made to secure the release of other passengers.
He said that the confidence of Nigerians on train rides as the safest means of transportation was gradually being restored.
The NRC boss said that diesel prices had skyrocketed and being a service provider for the benefit of Nigerians, the corporation could not just increase its fares.
According to him, the corporation has to reduce the number of trips on both Lagos-Ibadan to four trips and Itakpe-Warri to two in order to provide train services for Nigerians.
He said that NRC had lost N531million to inactivity on the Abuja-Kaduna route between March and August 2022.
Okhiria said that the corporation had intended to increase the Abuja-Kaduna Standard Gauge trip while it would increase the Lagos-Ibadan train to 10 trips; five to and five fro.
