Nigerians have expressed mixed feelings following the return of railway services on the Abuja-Kaduna route on Monday.
While some argue that taking the train is the most convenient and safest mode of transportation, at least for the time being that robbers and terrorists continue to terrorise road travellers, others argue that rail transportation is expensive, slow, and vulnerable to all types of criminal attack.
Although passengers at Risa train station in Igabi LGA of Kaduna State were ecstatic about the restart of the Kaduna-Abuja train service on Tuesday, they were disappointed by the Nigerian Railway Corporation’s increase in ticket costs.
Security was tightened as more staff were dispatched to the station to avoid a repeat of previous occurrences.
Hundreds of travellers tried to board trains to their destinations at the Rigasa rail station.
On Tuesday, Alhaji Ibrahim Musa, an estate agent, told PulseNets at the Rigasa station that train service is better for comfort.
According to him, because the federal government has put security operatives in place to combat criminal activity, they simply need prayers for survival.
Hajia Salamatu Danielle, who stated her intention to travel to Abuja, stated that she is no longer frightened of criminals or terrorists because there are more security personnel on the ground.
She prefers train transit over road transportation because anything can happen along the route, according to her.
She urged the NRC to lower transportation fares in order to accommodate more individuals who plan to travel throughout the holiday season.
Mallam Nasir Idris, on the other hand, stated that the slow pace at which trains move would not fit his commute to Abuja for work and return the same day.
He works in Abuja and returns to Kaduna every evening on the same day, he claims.
He also voiced concern over ticket prices, saying that in most circumstances, he can get a roadside vehicle to Abuja for N1,000.
Mrs. James Alice claimed that the federal government owed them compensation during the first week of train service because passengers were attacked by bandits on March 28, 2022.
Even if the federal government had avoided raising transportation fares, she believes that they could have enabled passengers to use the service for at least two weeks or decreased the fee to the bare minimum.
She speculated that the increase could be to make up for what they had missed since the train was halted.
Ali Danjuma, a shoemaker who has travelled by train for many years, has urged Nigerians to stop comparing train service to road or air transportation.
According to him, the comfortability that comes with train service cannot be found with road or air service because trains can stop at every station, train business passengers can render services, and other passengers can buy whatever they need while the cost of transportation remains affordable.
