Lagos district manager, Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC), Engr. Jerry Oche, in this interview with FIDELIS UGBOMEH spoke on efforts made and future plans to boost railway mass transit in Lagos.
sure that train coaches are put in proper shape?
You will agree with me that some of the Coaches are as old as myself and these Coaches are not what the Corporation can buy. So we sat down and told ourselves that for as long as we are providing service and people are paying we cannot continue to give excuses. So we decided to look inwards. Don’t forget some of the Coaches have been abandoned for so many years. We decided to refurbish the Coaches in phases so that we don’t ground services completely. Right now as I am talking to you about 12 Coaches have been refurbished and have since joined the fleet of Coaches currently used for mass transit in Lagos. The refurbished Coaches are fixed with leather seat, light and steps to aid climbing in and out of the Coaches even as the defective roofs in some Coaches have been repaired/replaced where necessary. In the case of the steps it is already built to standard so what we do is just fix it. But of course you know some people stand on the steps and sometimes objects are thrown along the rail corridors and these of course damage the steps. The steps are not built for passengers to stand on while the train is on motion. It is meant to aid climbing in and out of the Coaches.
What are you doing to ensure that passengers are informed when trains are delayed?
I am not going to say Yes or No to your question. I am going to be in between. Yes there are instances. No it is not as flat as that. Take for instance a train takes off from Iddo to Agbado and in between Ikeja and Agege the Locomotive engine breaks down. Of course the Driver did not envisage this. You may want to say that the Driver is on board with his crew. But how many of them know the immediate cause of the break down. The Driver on his own may be trying to inform the Principal Locomotive Inspector (PLI) or the District Mechanical Electrical Engineer (DMEE) about the problem. In this case passengers will not be informed about immediate cause of the problem. Aside from mechanical device which can breakdown at any point, the problem could be from the originating Station say Iddo Terminus. Maybe the problem was due to delay at the Running Shed or there could be problem en-route, we let the passengers know. That was why I said yes and No to your question. These are things we are working on and definitely things will improve in 2017. Don’t forget that on the Diesel Multiple Unit (DMU) trains we have created a forum with some key passengers through which we interact with them. This we are trying to replicate in the Mass Transit Train (MTT) Service. Presently we are trying to identify some key people in the MTT that we can be interacting with so that real time information can be passed to passengers when the need arises. For the DMU we don’t have any issue. If I open my Whatsup now I am sure there will be two or more messages on whether or not the DMU will operate. I will like a situation whereby passengers can talk to us directly. We are serving the passengers and they should be able to have access to us. It does not have to do with complain. Complain, complain about bad service. Some people can come up with one hundred problems without any solution. We are going to have suggestion boxes atall the Railway Sub-stations between Iddo/Apapa to Ijoko/Kajola in addition to the existing one at Ebute-Metta Junction so that passengers can write their suggestions and drop same into the suggestion boxes. That is also why we are taking the issue of cleanliness with our Facility Managers seriously. Passengers cannot be paying for services and will still be complaining dirty seats/floors of Coaches. So we are taking the monitoring of our Facility Managers seriously.
What are you doing to curb the menace of roof top climbing of coaches in the country?
When we started this clampdown we knew it was not going to be an easy task. We knew it was not going to end in one day. Mark you it is a criminal act to climb the roof top of trains. So what we are doing now is to use the Task Force and Police and like you said roof top climbing has reduced to a minimal level. Where we are heading to is to find a permanent solution.
It right for Train Ticket Collectors (TTC’s) to be accompanied by Policemen while checking tickets of passengers inside the train?
Yes there is nothing wrong in Policemen accompanying TTC’s while checking tickets because sometimes passengers molest them. Don’t forget some of the passengers are armed. So for the safety of the TTC’s and passengers policemen are authorized to accompany checkers on train.
What about the suggestion that more Police Stations should be established so as to enhance security along the railway corridors?
There are plans to establish Police Stations in the District. There is a new one about to be opened at Ijoko and plans are underway based on available resources and approval of Headquarters to establish more Police Stations.
How much revenue through the Mass Transit Train per month?
I will not tell you how much revenue we generate but I can tell you the number of trips we make. Apart from 16 trips per day from Idd/Apapa to Ijoko/Kajola and back the MTT operates six trips on Saturdays. About 50,000-60,000 passengers are conveyed between Monday and Friday and 10,000 passengers on Saturday. The MTT does not operate on Sundays because the rolling stocks have to be overhauled. Even God said in the Bible that you can work from Monday to Saturdays but on Sundays serve me.
Is it through that the contract for the refurbishing of the coaches was outsourced?
No everything was done in-house. It the past it was outsourced but not now.
It is common place to find out that most of the Railway Stations don’t have toilets hence when passengers are pressed they find it difficult to ease themselves. What are you doing to ensure that toilets are built at the train Stations?
Some Stations have toilets some don’t have. We are looking at the idea of Mobile Toilets. Apart from the safety of passengers we also have to look at their convenience. We are working on it’
What is your last word for commuters on the MTT?
It is in our own interest to give passengers the best service. We are not where we should be but we will be there. We call on Uncles and Parents of Commuters to warn their wards that it is a Criminal offence to climb roof top of trains.