The Nigerian Railway Corporation has disclosed that from next week, electronic ticketing (e-ticketing) on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge will commence after months of arrangements to digitalize the ticketing process.
The corporation’s Managing Director, Fidet Okhiria, while fielding questions at the Television Continental (TVC) on Tuesday on Tuesday confirmed that the final testing of the ticketing platform would finalized today to ensure all glitches are sorted out before the public can use it.
He explained that with the migration to the e-ticketing system, passengers would not have to be physically present at train stations before they can obtain tickets, adding that they can buy their tickets at least 48 hours before their proposed departure date.
Okhiria also unveiled plans to introduce the e-ticketing system to the Abuja-Kaduna, Lagos-Ibadan, and Itakpe- Warri rail lines.
He expatiated: “The e-ticketing is the way to go, it is the way to secure our money and our investments because as you buy your tickets it goes to the government coffers directly. We have it in Abuja-Kaduna, and we are also going to have it at Lagos-Ibadan and Itakpe-Warri. By the end of the month, our passengers should start using it.”
This is even as he disclosed of the corporation’s plans to increase in train speed on the Lagos-Ibadan standard gauge from 40km/hr to 80km/hr on the Lagos-Ibadan standard guage with the ultimate target of 150km/hr that the track was originally designed for.
The NRC’s boss cautioned against trading on the track and promised that announcements would be made at various train stations in Lagos to enlighten the public on the technological transformation of the rail transport system nationwide.
Okhiria further clarified: “We are going to be increasing our speed, especially within Lagos. I’m also using this opportunity to tell our brothers and sisters playing on the tracks to stop it. Right now we are doing 40 kilometers, we are going to be moving to 80 kilometers because the tracks are designed for 150 but we won’t mind going gradually to 120km per hour, especially within Lagos.
“People should be aware of that and those who cross the tracks should be aware of that and they should obey the level crossing lights and obey our signalmen. We have gone out to start making public announcements already at Oshodi, Yaba, Mushin at Agege, telling them that the speed of the train is going to go up as we cannot continue to shortchange ourselves if the train is designed to run at 150km people should avoid the permanent way, it is not a place trade”, he stressed.
