Commuters on the Ogun/Lagos Mass Transit Train Services (MTTS) of the Nigeria Railway Corporation (NRC) yesterday called for closer monitoring of the rail service.
The commuters told newsmen in Lagos that the services offered by the corporation were getting poorer, with problems of congestion and non-adherence to schedules.
A lawyer, Mr Justus Agbolahan, who travels by rail daily from Agbado to Apapa, said that the number of coaches on the train, which was initially 14, had dwindled.
“Suddenly, the number of coaches was reduced to nine to augment the long distance trains to Ilorin and Kano.
“When the coaches were 14, there was virtually no congestion, but it was the reduction that actually caused the congestion and hardship of passengers on the train.
“The management’s other problem is the failure to keep to time schedules, which also causes congestion on the train,’’ the septuagenarian said.
He said that there was a need for the NRC to improve on their performance.
Mrs Rashidat Agboola, a trader who usually joins the train from Ijoko to Mushin, said that the corporation had failed to improve its services as promised.
“The management sees the plight we are facing everyday but they have not been able to do anything.
“It is a pity that women also hang while some climb and sit on top of the coaches to travel with the train,“ she said.
The trader said that efforts should be made to make the services better.
Mrs Kemi Aina, a banker who works at Oshodi and joins the train from Iju Station, said that the corporation should be more sensitive to commuters.
“I think when you have people patronising your business, you need to work hard to improve your services to them, but that of the railway is not so.
“Moreso, Oshodi is the busiest station of the corporation, but it has no facilities for passengers, including a platform for easy climbing and disembarking from the train,’’ Aina said.
Mr Sunday Atolagbe, a self-employed man who takes the train from Itoki to Yaba said: “I know that if government knows how people are packed together here, it will do something without delay.’’
Atolagbe urged the authorities to send some of its officials to evaluate operations of the railway in the light of what commuters were passing through.
Mr Samuel Akande, a regular user of the train, said in spite of the N25,000 fine imposed by the NRC, the problem of hanging had continued to persist.
Akande said that the congestion on the trains was compounded by the gradual reduction in the number of coaches on the shuttles.
“The corporation is against hanging but at the same time is creating congestion due to its reduction in the number of coaches,” he said.