The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) says trains services between Port Harcourt in Rivers State and Aba in Abia State, would commence later this month, March 2024.
The Managing Director of NRC, Fidet Okhiria, made this pronouncement on Saturday in Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
Okhiria, after observing the test-run of the reconstructed rail line which is know as the eastern narrow gauge said it was ready for trains to start operating on the corridor.
He praised the contractors for the work they had done on the railroad and expressed his confidence that they would complete the finishing works in two weeks’ time.
The Ministry of Transportation had earlier directed the connection of the nearby Onne Seaport to the Port Harcourt Aba Rail Line which is part of the Port Harcourt Maiduguri railroad project.
Okhiria said the project team had started design work to connect the Onne Seaport to the existing Port Harcourt Aba Rail.
The connection of the Onne Seaport to the rail line is expected to boost trade and commerce in the zone with an upsurge in the patronage of the Onne Seaport. This increase in port usage is designed to reduce the congestion on the Lagos Ports.
Okhiria also spoke on the high cost of diesel which might result in higher fares on the route as the trains were diesel powered trains. He assured that the NRC would endeavor to cover some of the costs of diesel to ensure the fares were affordable to commuters.
He assured that adequate security measures had been put in place to protect the trains with linkage of security devices from the trains to the operations control room.
Recall that in 2021, an Abuja-Kaduna Train operated by the NRC was attacked by terrorists with loss of lives and kidnap of scores of passengers. The lapse in security was blamed on the absence of planned security devices and measures on the trains.
